CAT's Mural
by L. A. Moonfyre
Summary: Focuses on Rhyme. Just as she deepens her relationship with Shiki, she is pulled into another Game unlike anything she ever thought could be possible. Trapped in an utterly dark world with only Neku, they seem to be the only two Players involved...
1. First Tag Color: Red

The World Ends With You

CAT's Mural

First Tag Color: Red

A back arched away from the spray painted wall. A small voice tenderly moaned in the secretive air behind the Wild Boar skateboarding shop and fingers curled against the graffiti. She could feel the hot breath of the older girl against her neck, in her ear, on her lips…

It had been a few years since that dark month dominated over their very existence. For her, it was an event that could never leave her. Thankfully she did not remember much. Unfortunately, she would never remember what she had given up and ultimately lost the moment the Noise had overcome her. It had been a hard time for all of them, really. That pain would never leave her dusty blue eyes, no matter how big her smile might be in the face of her friends, of those who had suffered through it with her.

No one really understood what exactly went through her head anymore, left in the wake of such a life churning episode. Hell, she hardly understood what went on herself with her thoughts. Especially now, at the sensitive age of sixteen, with her back to CAT's famous mural and her baggy denims crumpled around her ankles. The only thing she thought was going through her head was the fresh, raw, and almost animalistic desire for the older girl holding her against that wall.

Soft brown hair brushed against her damp cheek, and for the first time she realized that she was crying. Carefully she reached a sleeve covered hand up to try to wipe the tears away before the older girl noticed, but of course she could never hide her pain from Shiki. "Rhyme, you're crying," Shiki whispered into her ear, pulling her free hand from under the girl's hoodie to gently touch those tears.

"Ah, I know, I'm sorry," the faded blonde gasped, shaking against the hand between her thighs. She pulled Shiki's other hand away from her dampened cheek and halted any other further conversation by kissing the older girl. The sky above and beyond their little alley glimmered with a few brighter stars, the younger girl's voice softly cried out to them.

For a couple of months now, CAT's inspirational mural had become a much more personal staple of emotion to both Shiki and Rhyme alike. It was while studying the mural alone together that they had shared that first tearful remembrance of the Game, and it was by the mural's watchful eye that they had shared their first tearstained kiss. Now, it would be the very form of their first physical intimacy, helping to keep the younger girl up on her weak and trembling legs.

She cried out Shiki's name in a quaking voice, clutching on to the back of the older girl's jacket. Shiki's touch was gentle but relentless. Rhyme was not sure how much longer she could keep herself up. Her knees shook hard, her legs felt like jelly, and she could feel herself sliding down against the painted wall. The older girl felt Rhyme slipping as well, and urged the girl to curl her arms around her neck and help hold herself up. Silently, Rhyme complied, hugging Shiki close and gasping into her ear.

Rhyme was certain that if their friend Neku ever knew what his favorite piece of CAT's rather bizarre artwork meant to her and Shiki now, he would be appalled. To him it was a great source of personal inspiration, but for Rhyme and Shiki, it was that and so much more. It was a symbol of their fragile and new relationship; a relationship that rapidly grew stronger the more Rhyme was pushed against the spray painted wall.

The weight of Shiki's body pressing against Rhyme's own made the young girl's head spin. She slipped a hand from around the older girl's neck to graze fingertips against bare skin, underneath her jacket. Against her Shiki shivered, the gentle sensation of Rhyme's timid touch exhilarating. "Oh, Rhyme…" Shiki whispered tenderly, running her fingers through faded blonde bangs.

Her breath was hot against Shiki's ear, her soft moans becoming more urgent. Around her fingers Shiki could feel the younger girl starting to tense, throbbing hard. Smiling softly, Shiki began to kiss along the edge of Rhyme's ear while she moved her fingers with more purpose. Now Rhyme was faintly crying out, her thighs trembling fiercely against the rising force of her first climax induced by another person. Shiki lightly bit the edge of Rhyme's ear as the girl inhaled sharply and her entire body became rigid. The flash of ecstasy seemed to stretch into forever; at least, to Rhyme it did.

Once it had at last began to subside, she became weak and depended entirely on the older girl to keep on her feet. Gasping quietly for air, Rhyme finally opened her dusty blue eyes and took in Shiki for a moment. The older girl held a small smile on her lips, her dark eyes behind her glasses glimmering a bit with tears. "Shiki…?" Rhyme questioned faintly, touching a soft cheek and feeling its dampness. The older girl had been crying with Rhyme.

The two shared a deep, bittersweet kiss, and at last Shiki slowly withdrew her wet hand from in between Rhyme's still quaking thighs. She took a small step back only to allow the blonde a chance to reach down for her pants, Rhyme keeping one hand on Shiki so she did not lose her legs entirely. With a bit of help from Shiki, the button was secured and the zipper lifted again, and with a heavy sigh Rhyme slid down against the wall to sit on the concrete.

There was a very heavy pause of silence between the two, a car honking in the distance. Shiki moved to sit beside the younger girl with her back against CAT's mural as well, watching her while Rhyme studied her hands. Gently Shiki rested a hand on Rhyme's shoulder and whispered, "Hey, are you doing alright? You… you aren't having second thoughts about this, are you?"

Rhyme quickly turned her head to look at Shiki, her blue eyes wide. "What? No, no! It's not that… I'm just…" Her voice fell silent and again Rhyme cast her eyes away from the older girl, as if trying to hide her weakness in shame. Shiki held her breath; although there were several questions screaming through her head, she decided to wait and let the younger girl find her own words. After a few quiet moments, she did.

Turning her eyes again to meet Shiki's own, Rhyme began in a hesitant but determined tone, "Shiki, I-"

BAM

Shiki's eyes grew wide. A cry was building up inside her chest and throat, a cry of horror. Something felt warm and wet on her face, something dark colored, it was hard to tell in the darkness of night what color it really was. Filling her now blurry vision was the sight of Rhyme, of the younger girl with the dusty sky blue eyes wide with surprise and blood trailing between them, down her tearstained face.

Slumping forward into Shiki's arms, Rhyme managed to groan; a sound that was somehow sorrowful and shocked at the same time. The last thing that Rhyme remembered was hearing someone sob her name and an embrace that tightened fiercely around her, as if trying to squeeze the very life out of her. In fact, she felt as if her life were being squeezed out of her, pouring from an open hole in her head…

-End Pre-Game Prologue


	2. Second Tag Color: Blue

The World Ends With You

CAT's Mural

Second Tag Color: Blue

"…Ungh!?"

Rhyme sat up in a huff, something clattering a few feet away from her and hitting the wall. She was still by CAT's mural, surrounded by night's blanket, but she was utterly alone. Getting shakily to her feet, she tried to peer into the semidarkness but saw nothing. For a split second she was confused, but it violently hit her in one brilliant flash. Suddenly short of breath, Rhyme backed up against the wall as far as she could. A strange sort of whimpering sounded in her throat as she slid down to sit again against the towering ghost cat. It seemed to loom over her, almost like some sick kind of omen.

Glancing over, she saw what had clattered away. Picking it up with shaking fingers, she squinted at the familiar Player Pin in her hand, and dropped it. "No, no… Not again…" Rhyme moaned, hiding her face in her hands in a vain attempt to blot out the truth before her. She could not believe it, it just could not be happening. Why had it happened, happened again to her?

Footsteps, she could hear them heading towards her from the darkness. She jerked away from her hands, staring wide eyed into the darkness. Alone, she was completely terrified. The only thing she could do was run. Run, and try to hide. Scrambling to get to her feet and subconsciously scooping the Pin into a pocket, Rhyme slipped on a bit of gravel or debris – she wasn't sure which in her panic – and fell hard against the concrete, hitting her chin.

Whimpering a little as she again tried to get up on her feet, she just managed it when someone slammed her against the wall in the darkness. She cried out and violently started to kick, struggling to free herself. "Hey hey, calm down! Rhyme, it's okay! It's me, Neku!" The name hit her harder than the impact with the wall and she became still almost at once.

"N… Neku? Wh… but why? Why are you here, too?" Rhyme was in disbelief. Hadn't Neku suffered more than all of them, during the Game the first time around? Why was he back? Why was she back? What the hell was going on?

Neku quickly silenced her questions by lightly pressing a finger to her lips. "Look, we will figure it out later; what matters now is that we have to make a pact to survive. I haven't come across anyone else, and there's something really weird tracking me in the shadows. If we want any chance, we have to fight now and ask later," Neku said to the younger girl. She was quiet for a moment, but finally nodded. She trusted Neku.

"Alright, let's do it then," Rhyme said, putting a hand up. Neku clasped it, and from their touch a bright blue light started to form. It rapidly grew to cover both of them and flashed painfully bright in the darkness of night, then disappeared as quick as it had formed.

Not wasting a minute, Neku pulled Rhyme along the wall of CAT's mural while he said, "Come on, that weird light show will attract whatever's out there, and I don't want to find out what it is." Rhyme was confused. Didn't the pact mean that they wouldn't be attacked anymore? She did not waste any breath asking, it took all she had just to keep up with Neku's fast pace.

They skirted around the Wild Boar skateboard shop, which from the corner of Rhyme's eye looked as if it were crumbling, but she suspected it was just the shadows of night and her panicked state. Neku led them into a small alley in between two closely pressing buildings, shoving Rhyme deeper in to the safety as he peered out at the poorly lit street. For a moment Rhyme studied those shabby lights, wondering if the Udagawa back streets had always been so dingy. Her attention was sharply diverted when she heard a loud scraping nearby, her eyes darting to try to look around Neku without moving.

The noise stopped for a moment, but then there was a screeching scream of metal being violently twisted. The dim light flickered out, leaving the street as dark as the small crook where the two hid. Rhyme held her breath, utterly silent. She could feel Neku's hand gently pressing against her stomach to keep her still, and she felt it trembling hard. If he was scared of what was out there, Rhyme felt she should be very frightened as well. Finally the horrible screeching stopped, but the dragging started again, this time with an undertone of scraping metal. Now the thing seemed to have armed itself with a weapon.

This was not the Game that Rhyme remembered. She had never felt so terrified of Shibuya in all of her life, even when she had been thrown into the UG with absolutely no warning and the monstrous Noise all around. Back then it had been like child's play, fighting those Noise alongside her partner Beat, laughing and keeping points with him just like it _had_ been a game! This was nothing like that time, and in the face of such revelation, Rhyme seriously wished that she could go back to that sunnier Shibuya. At least there she could see what she was up against.

The sound was drawing closer. Neku pressed more against the wall, and after a moment Rhyme saw why. Sparks flew out into the darkness every time the monster took a step, its crude weapon dragging against the concrete with such force that bits of metal were blown away into glowing sparks. Whatever it was, it was powerful. Sickly powerful.

Faintly an outline could almost be made out whenever the sparks crackled out, and for a moment Rhyme had the crazy notion that it was in the same lumbering shape of a gorilla. However, she never recalled seeing any gorilla that big before, and she was pretty sure they didn't smell like burning, acidic flesh. Much effort was placed in suppressing the urge to vomit.

"Rhyme, if we want to get out of here, we're going to have to fight it. If this really is another Game, then there is a way to win it. We're not weak like the first time around, we can handle it," Neku whispered, just barely breathing enough to sound his words for Rhyme to hear. She gripped his hand and gave it a silent squeeze, her response to say that she was ready, whether she wanted to be or not. Pulling away from Rhyme, Neku reached into his pocket and withdrew several Psych Pins. Carefully he selected one, holding it by his side in his right fist while he held two others in his left hand.

Beyond in the darkness, the thing had stopped moving. It was near their little crook, and Rhyme could hear a wet snuffling sound. It was trying to smell them out. A bead of sweat rolled down her forehead and into her eye, making it sting. When she tried to blink it away, the thing gave a ripping loud roar. Neku replied with a battle cry of his own, and he flew out of their hiding spot as a long sword of red light grew from the Pin in his right hand.

Rhyme scrambled to follow, a hand wrapping around the bell pendant around her neck. It chimed softly in her hand, and a pale purple glow formed around her body in response to the sound. With the burning light of Neku's sword and the fluctuating aura of Rhyme's power, the monster with the metal club could finally be seen in all of its grizzly horror. Rhyme's first guess had almost been right, if gorillas were usually twice their full size and completely inside out. Muscles gleamed in the light with their bloody wetness, and the monster gave a sort of twisted grin, although how it did it without a lower jaw was beyond Rhyme's comprehension.

Without even faltering, it raised its crude weapon as Neku came close and struck first. His beam of red light cut into the glistening flesh of a thick thigh, crippling the beast as acidic blood spurted out and onto Neku's arm, burning it. It swung its weapon down, aimed for Neku's head, but Rhyme came in and blasted the creature with a beam of soft purple light. The light hit the monster and threw it back against a building with such force that the entire building collapsed on top of the monster, crushing it with a sick wet pop. Neku's right hand dropped, the red light disappearing back into its Pin still clutched in his trembling hand.

He stared at the ruined building for a moment in shock, then turned around to look at Rhyme. "What did you do?" he asked, always unaware of what Rhyme's powers had been exactly and utterly shocked by the force of seeing it right before his eyes. She opened her mouth to respond, but when her eyes took in the sight of the blistering burns on Neku's arm, she stepped up to him.

"You're hurt, did you realize?" she asked while pulling out a Pin of her own from her hoodie pocket. For a brief moment she wondered how it had got there and why she knew it was in there, but proceeded to tap into the Psych of the Pin. A cool white light absorbed into her hand, and she spread apart her fingers above Neku's arm. The light moved from her fingers to his burned skin, covering the wounds and healing them an instant later. It was a quick and easy curing Pin.

Studying her for a moment, Neku said, "So you can use Pins too?" She awkwardly toed at the concrete for a moment before replying, "Well, just some… Mostly healing pins though. I had to heal Beat a lot those first couple of days… I got good at it." Neku nodded his approval, ruffling the black hat on Rhyme's head and messing up her blonde hair a bit in the process.

"Well, I'm glad to have you for a partner. Though, I can't help but wonder why we're both back here, in this situation again, years later…" He peered off into the darkness in thought. Rhyme's mind echoed the same sort of questions, but she held her silence while Neku thought.

Beyond, the infinite blackness had showed its first bit of weakness; the light of day was breaking out through the sky. Already the familiar soft blue of the sunnier Shibuya that Rhyme remembered was beginning to cut across the darkness, and Rhyme questioned its rapid speed of change. However, the brighter the back streets of Udagawa showed, the more it became obvious that it was nowhere near the same Shibuya of the RG or UG. All around, the buildings were derelict, decaying and crumbling in on themselves.

Glancing down the street to the famous mural of CAT, Rhyme saw to her disbelief and sadness that most of the mural was gone, crumbled on the concrete where Rhyme had woken up a short time ago. The only bits that remained were most of the Ghost Cat's looming figure, and one of the blood red crosses on the left of the disintegrating white hands. Neku saw this as well, but did not say a word about it. Instead he turned to Rhyme as he read a message that had just come to his cell phone.

"Well, it seems we've lived through today. Defeating that… thing was the mission, although it didn't tell us until now what our mission was. This Game is definitely rigged against our favor this time," Neku said as he met Rhyme's gaze. Sighing, he slipped the cell phone into his pocket and looked at Rhyme again, this time with a bit of sadness in his eyes, an almost apologetic look. It was gone an instant later, and Rhyme quietly questioned if it had been there at all.

Rather than dwelling on it, she looked up again at the sky, clasping her hands behind her back. "Rigged or not, we _are_ stronger this time. We can do it if we really put our hearts into it, I know we can. I mean, just look up there. That sky is the same shade of blue as our Shibuya…" Neku looked up at the sky before Rhyme went on with her little speech, "And games are meant to be won. So… let's beat this Game and get back home, to the ones who are waiting for us…" She trailed off, remembering for the first time Shiki and the relationship that had finally been born between the two. Smiling, she looked at Neku. "We can do it."

-End Day 1


	3. Third Tag Color: White

The World Ends With You

CAT's Mural

Third Tag Color: White

When next Rhyme awoke, she found that again she was leaning against the crumbling ruins of CAT's famous mural. This time, however, she was also leaning against Neku. Squinting over at him through the dingy darkness of the poorly lit back streets, she saw that he was still peacefully asleep. Her eyes made a trail down to his hands, and she found that he was tightly clutching them closed.

Curious now, Rhyme gently pried open one of his hands and found, to her mild surprise, that he was holding on to a fist full of Pins. Pulling away from him and rubbing her eyes, she sighed. She was still scared, too. Though, she couldn't help but feel a little better knowing that she had Neku for a partner, who had survived three weeks of hell during the first Game.

She choked on that thought. The first Game. Before now, she had never even considered it that way. It used to be known as 'that dark month' between her and the others who had managed to make it through, but now it was nothing more than the first Game. Funny how quickly things can change in a matter of days. She dimly hoped that one day she would be able to view back to her current situation as the second time she had to suffer through the Game.

Gently she shook Neku, calling his name softly and trying to wake him. He awoke with a violent start, holding up one of his fist full of Pins. "Something out there?" he growled at Rhyme. Her hands stayed on his arm until he finally looked at her, and silently Rhyme shook her head no with a small smile touching her lips. "Oh, alright," he yawned, relaxing and giving a long stretch. After he was fully awake, he glanced up towards the wall to get a bearing on his surrounds, and his expression fell.

"You know, this is sort of odd for a Game. I don't remember waking up by this painting so many times in a row," he said out loud, getting up to his feet. Rhyme stood up as well, putting in her two cents, "I think that maybe we should leave this area and try to get to a more populated area. This… emptiness is a little overwhelming." She peered around the empty darkness, quietly emphasizing her point with her timid blue gaze.

Neku agreed with a nod of his head, flicking a Psych Pin with his thumb and catching it in his hand. "Alright, let's head to Shibu-Q Heads and see if there's anyone around there," he said while meeting Rhyme's eyes. He started to walk, and Rhyme quickly moved to follow, staying right by the taller boy's side.

The ruined wall with the graffiti of Ghost Cat quickly vanished from sight, darkness pressing in all around the two. Rhyme leaned in more against Neku, quietly grabbing his arm and holding it while they walked. She didn't want to admit it, but she was terrified of that darkness. At least it was quiet… for the moment.

After several minutes of nothing but eerie silence and crumbling buildings all around, Rhyme let out a breath. "There aren't even any Reapers or any walls to get through. This is so strange!" she said. Neku gave a nod, "Yeah, this doesn't make sense. We haven't got a message yet either, so I'm suspecting that we'll have to figure out the mission for our selves." Rhyme kept to herself the observation of how utterly alone they were in the ruins of Shibuya. There didn't seem to even be any other Players! It was just Neku and Rhyme, completely alone in the dark city.

"Hey, Neku…" Rhyme whispered, leaning in closer to Neku. He paused and tilted his head down towards Rhyme. "…Do you think we're at Shibu-Q Heads yet?" Without giving an immediate response, Neku stood straight again and squinted out into the darkness. The lighting was so poor he couldn't even make out what the caved in buildings near him used to be.

Giving a small shrug, Neku replied, "To be honest… I'm not sure. I can't see a damn thing…" He pulled forth a Pin from his pocket while he spoke. Holding it before him on his open palm, he called the Psych within and created a small burning ball of fire that hovered precariously over the Pin. Even with the light of the burning flame, their scope of sight was as limited as before.

"…Wow," was all Neku could manage, closing his fist to extinguish the flame and putting the Pin away. It seemed the only choice they had was to continue stumbling around, near blind thanks to some unspoken Rule of the Game. "I guess… the only thing we can do is keep going forward," Rhyme whispered hesitantly, straining her eyes in an attempt to see what was around them.

So they did just that, Neku taking a few steps forward, then a few more. Rhyme stuck fast to him, torn between hiding her face against Neku's arm and staring out at the bleak nothingness that she could see. The silence was deadly menacing, nearing on madness. Just when Rhyme thought that she couldn't take one more step forward into the unknown, something seemed to materialize before her.

"Neku… look," she whispered, nearly mesmerized by the soft white glow that grew brighter. He had already seen it though, and his entire body had become rigid. Rhyme's hand slid down his arm to stop around his fist, and she faintly thought she could feel something warm oozing from between his fingers. Neku was watching the light, holding the pins so hard that they were cutting into the skin of his hand.

As the two Players watched the strange growing light, the glow rapidly took shape – two shapes, actually. Right before Rhyme's eyes, the light formed into a pair of stunning, sleek angelic wings. "Oh, so beautiful…" Rhyme faintly muttered, subconsciously taking a step towards that tantalizing blue-white light.

"What the fu-" Neku started, but before he could finish, the wings of light gave a mighty flap – and then took off. Without thinking, both Neku and Rhyme gave chase, following the glowing wings as they glided and zoomed through the black ruins of Shibuya. The two Players could not see where they were going. The only thing that filled their vision was the sight of those glowing wings leading them through the city. As long as they followed the same winding path, they didn't hit any walls, invisible or otherwise.

Panting hard after what felt like hours of hard running on debris covered concrete, Rhyme gasped, "Wh-where do you think we're headed?" Thanks to the many sudden turns, Rhyme had long since lost the mental map she kept of Shibuya's twists and streets, leaving her at a loss to their location. Without thinking Neku muttered, "Scramble Crossing," under his breath, but he would not elaborate when Rhyme asked why he thought so.

Another stretch of unrecognizable time passed with nothing but haggard running and those elusive glowing wings. By the time Rhyme was ready to drop to the ground in a mound of gasping exhaustion, the wings stopped suddenly. They hovered several feet above the street, utterly still. Then they gave another slow flap, and started to fade from sight. "What in the hell is going on?!" Neku screamed up at the black nothingness above. An instant later, he got a reply that made him wish he would have kept his mouth shut.

From above, a shrill cry that made their ears ring hard enough to hurt sounded. Rhyme groaned, covering her ears and squatting down low to the ground, fearing an aerial attack. Beside her Neku was already readying a few choice Pins. "Come on, Rhyme. We have no choice but to fight whatever's out there now," he whispered encouragingly, though it was hard to take strength from a trembling voice.

This time when Neku used the fireball Pin, the glow threw back some of the oppressive darkness and revealed to the Players their adversary. Rhyme only glanced at it for a moment before she had to turn away to struggle with the dry heaves. Somehow defying gravity above them, a giant bird like creature flew above them.

From its slow flapping torso with huge wings that well exceeded twenty feet in total length, a gross misinterpretation of a neck dangled almost to the ground. At the bottom of the boney length of spinal cord hung a menacing head, wide glowing eyes blazing fierce and long sharp beak snapping between the shrill cries. The head jerked irregularly in random directions, as if the bird were trying to lift it to peer at its prey evenly. Neku grimly noted that the shape of the bird creature's head almost resembled a great owl, if the bird's feathers were instead replaced with gleaming, bloody bone tips ripping through skin.

Extending below the flapping wings in the torso were the monster's long legs and sharp talons. From the talons oozed a faintly glowing substance. Rhyme did not want to find out what that substance was or what it could do if it made physical contact. Emitting from the bird beast like a foul aura came a nauseating smell of stomach acid and charcoal. It seemed impossible that the thing could even be flying.

Not wasting any time, Neku began to release the fireballs from his bloody hand, sending them right towards the greasy mass of bird. It couldn't move fast enough to dodge, crying out in pain and shuddering. The fireballs exploded against the beast with mighty cracks, Neku not relenting in his attack. Rhyme gently grasped her pendant, but it wouldn't chime under her touch. It seemed the maddening shriek of the monster put a block on her accessing her Psych.

Her body froze as she realized that Neku was just buying time for her devastating blast of power. He looked over his shoulder after a moment, the question obvious in his eyes about her shot. She shook her head and opened her mouth to try to explain, but instead a scream poured forth as she pointed at the beast. Neku turned just in time to see the extended talons as they struck him full force in the chest. He couldn't even manage a grunt as all of the air was forced out of his lungs and he was sent flying into the graveled street. The glowing ooze from the monster's claws ate at his shirt and burned hotly against his skin, but he didn't even notice as he struggled to his feet, making a weird gasping cough.

When he glared at Rhyme with accusation in his eyes, it took all she had to keep from crying. "That thing blocks my Psych!" she finally managed to scream at him, and when he understood that he would have to fight solo, the rage at Rhyme left his eyes. He turned away as he swapped Pins, holding a quick healing Pin in his left hand while he readied several projectile Psych Pins in his bloody right.

After its first attack the monster had landed on the ground and flopped around for a moment, completely helpless. Neku took the prime opportunity to aim right for the beast's head, sending it flying in all directions like a sick bouncing ball toy tied to a string. While it took the hits from Neku, its body shuddered and popped wetly. A moment later and two thick legs had erupted from the torso in between the talon edged legs. The monster stood up on these new legs, folding up its wings against its body and flexing its oozing claws. This new mode of transportation left the monster's head to drag behind its body on the ground, but its legs were built for rapid speed.

Giving another shrill cry, the bird beast started on a mad charge towards Neku and Rhyme, claws out and ready. Neku healed himself as he waited for the other Pins to reboot, watching the sick torso as it raged closer. This time when he raised his glowing right hand to shoot, he aimed for the glowing claws of the monster.

The blasts of fire and lightning, giant ninja stars comprised of bright green light and balls of glowing water all struck the talons of the beast, and exploded in a masterful display of colors. Neku lowered his hand and closed his eyes against the painfully bright lights, knowing that once it had cleared, he would be victor.

True to his prediction, once all of the light had faded and Rhyme could see clearly again, the hideous twist of torso and limbs lay on its side in the middle of Scramble Crossing, dead. Already the darkness was quickly retreating, leaving behind the familiar blue skies of day. Rhyme stared up at that sky, tears in her eyes. Her whole body was shaking. It wasn't fair. The Game wasn't supposed to be set up like this, with monsters that could make her completely helpless.

"I'm sorry, Neku," she sobbed, sinking to her knees as the boy turned to see her tears. "I couldn't do anything. You were hurt and I couldn't do a damn thing about it!" She pounded her fists against the concrete, gritting her teeth to hold in her screams of frustration.

Neku kneeled down by Rhyme, lightly laying a hand on her shoulder. "Come on, Rhyme. We cleared today's mission, that's all that matters!" he said while holding out his already beeping phone with the message of success. She looked up at him and he pulled away some from the blazing emotion in her dusty blue eyes.

"Yeah? We cleared the mission? What if we come across something else like that, where one of us is left to do all of the fighting and protecting while the other stands on, a defenseless idiot?!" Before Neku had a chance to think of a reply, Rhyme turned her gaze up towards that blue sky, and she screamed for whoever was listening, "Are you listening?! This is fucking unfair! This isn't how the Game is controlled! This is cheeeeaaaating!!"

Slumping forward onto all fours, Rhyme was reduced to sobbing into her arms, the crumbling empty shops of Shibuya pressing in all around, jeering at her in her powerless state. Unsure of what to say, Neku ran his fingers through his hair. He was never good at trying to comfort someone; it was still a skill he had yet to gain. All he could do was kneel beside the girl and sort of pat her heaving shoulders, listening to her sorrowful cries.

- End Day 2


	4. Fourth Tag Color: Black

The World Ends With You

CAT's Mural

Fourth Tag Color: Black

Head pounding and eyes painfully heavy from crying so hard, Rhyme slowly lifted her head. She was sprawled out on her stomach in the middle of Scramble Crossing, or so she assumed because she couldn't see any buildings in her immediate area. As far as she could see through the muffling, silent darkness was the asphalt of streets. No sidewalks close enough, no crumbling walls to buildings, no people…

Sitting up and rubbing her aching eyes, the young girl sighed. Glancing to her left, she saw Neku curled up beside her, still peacefully asleep. When Rhyme took a closer look, she saw that he was tightly holding his right fist shut, his fingers trembling with the force. Of course. They were still in the same exact situation, but during the past day it had become ten times worse. Rhyme sighed again, a more hopeless sound than the one before.

Would today's mission also feature another fun twist to a sick misinterpretation of a boss fight? Maybe this time, Rhyme will come across a monster that will physically hold her hostage and use her as a body shield against Neku's Pin attacks! Wouldn't that be an absolute _blast!_ Rhyme shook her head and scratched a burning itch on the back of her neck, underneath her blonde hair. It was probably better to stop imagining just how much worse this particular Game could become.

"Hey, Neku. It's another grand day here in the Game. Time to rise and shine!" Rhyme said as she shook the older boy awake. She couldn't stop the bitterness from dripping into her voice. Usually she was the girl who always had a smile, no matter how dark the times got, but at this thought Rhyme couldn't suppress the rather shadowy chuckle at the irony of the situation.

Neku sat up and gave Rhyme a kind of nervous look because of the random laugh from the girl. Catching his eye, Rhyme leaned back on her hands and gazed up at the endless darkness above thoughtfully, imagining it as the soft blue sky of her Shibuya, and said, "You know… I wonder who shot me."

An absolute silence followed this statement, and Rhyme glanced at Neku, allegation in her dusty blues. She wasn't sure where the thought had come from, the thought that maybe it was Neku who had killed her, but sometime from the moment she had awoke a few minutes ago to now it had seeded in the back of her mind. Neku read that blame in her eyes as clear as day.

"I was shot, too," Neku said rather flatly, watching Rhyme as she stared at him and scratched the back of her neck. "I-I mean, to get into this Game, too, just like before. I… I don't know who did it," he added after a moment. That dark look didn't leave Rhyme's eyes, but she replied, "Well, maybe we'll find out who killed us if we win this game…" If. Rhyme had said if they win.

Neku's expression fell. It seemed that the situation was getting to the young girl, stressing her so hard that she was losing hope and forgetting the most important rule for survival: trust your partner. Without another word Rhyme got to her feet, dusting off some of the grime from her pants from sleeping in this Shibuya's filthy streets. Slowly, hesitating, Neku stood as well.

"I guess we should wander around until we come across something that isn't black and falling apart, or attacks us," Rhyme said, and began walking in no particular direction. Neku quietly followed, hands shoved in his pockets, but his fingers clutching on to the few Pins he had. He didn't want to tell Rhyme that he had only woken up that day with three Pins total, and none of them healing Pins. Maybe Rhyme had one. It was worth asking…

"Hey Rhyme, what Pins do you have on you?" Neku ventured asking while they walked. Rhyme stared at him over her shoulder for a moment, as if studying him before choosing how she would answer. Then she turned away, looking down as she pulled her Pins out of her hoodie pocket.

This was the first time Rhyme had taken stock of what Pins she had exactly. Looking down, she found that she had three total: Peace Full, a pin branded by Tigre Punks and used for curing; her black and white skull embossed Player Pin; and another strange Pin she had never come across before. It had a gleaming black surface that glinted without any light source. Rhyme wondered if the Pin was blocked by some kind of unmet condition.

Shoving the three Pins back into her pocket, she said, "I have a curing Pin and my Player Pin." Neku felt a little relief flood his system at that; Rhyme could heal him if he got hurt. Though, when again she glared at him from over her shoulder, he had a flash of slight doubt that just would not leave him.

They kept on walking, turning this direction and then that direction whenever they came across a wall, trying to stay on the street as much as possible to keep from getting lost in the endless alleyways. It felt like they had walked for an eternity, the never changing darkness all around messing with their grasp of time, before something started to appear in front of them.

Just as the day before, a soft white glow began to grow and take shape into the pair of angel wings, hovering just out of reach of the two Players. Neku and Rhyme shared a silent look, both agreeing without words that these wings would lead them somewhere to get things rolling again. Once they looked again at the wings of light, they were giving their routine stretch – and then took off. Rhyme and Neku both broke out into a run, following the light that led them through the darkness.

Rhyme's mind raced through many thoughts while her body raced through the streets of an empty and heartless Shibuya. Her heart was beating fast as the doubts and fears poured into her head, _What if this monster blocks my psych, too? What if it blocks Neku's AND mine? How will we win?_ It was suffice to assume that these wings would be leading the Players into their boss fight for the day's mission, because it seemed to be the only thing that they could do in this particular Shibuya. Fight horrors no one could dream of, and survive.

_But what about Neku?_ This thought had quietly slipped itself into the mainstream of Rhyme's mind, and her eyes flicked over to Neku for a moment. _He shot me and brought me here, I bet. This is all his doing, somehow. That's why there's no one else here… But what does he want? I have to figure out how to win this Game…_ And get back to Shiki. Rubbing at her eyes while they ran, she fought off the overwhelming need to cry. If Neku had shot her, why did he do it? What reason could anyone have to bring her into another Game, more maddening than the first? There was just no way to tell.

And what of her entry fee? At this thought Rhyme stumbled and nearly fell, but managed to keep her feet. She still didn't know what her entry fee had been for this Game. _Maybe this Game is different. Since the rules are so harsh, maybe this Game didn't have an entry fee_ she thought. It was the only thought she allowed herself to have, because she would not be able to function at all if she thought differently. Though, she couldn't help the small prick of fear stabbing at her heart.

The more they ran, the more Rhyme began to realize that she could hear their foot falls echoing all around them and the ground was sloping downwards. Just when had they gone underground? Suddenly the wings came to a halt, quivering in the air. Neku and Rhyme stopped as well, both panting and leaning on bent knees, Rhyme scratching the back of her neck again. "Where do you think we are?" Neku asked, walking until his hands met against a wall.

The wings vanished as Neku pulled out a Pin and lit the familiar flame. He studied the bits of graffiti he could still see on the decaying walls and said after a moment, "Miyashita Park Underpass…" Rhyme shivered. The scene of her first death with Beat…

"This is one twisted game you're runnin' here, ya know?" Rhyme said suddenly, arms wrapping around herself as she stepped closer to Neku, staring at his back. "Wha-" Neku started to say as he turned, but before he could even get the chance to look at Rhyme, she struck him with a swinging sucker punch right into his jaw. The surprise of the attack helped to fuel the ferocity of it as well as its force, and Neku was sent reeling against the wall.

He had stumbled a bit to his right, and when he hit the wall, he realized that he had moved to one of the open holes leading to the street underpass when the back of his knees were the only things that made contact. Crying out, his fireball Pin was sent clattering into the darkness and his flame extinguished as he fell backwards. Hitting the gravelly, pothole riddled road, he skidded and hit his head on a rather large piece of the concrete. Rhyme leapt up onto the short wall, crouching on it and staring at Neku while the boy tried to get his bearings.

"What are you doing!?" Neku cried out, clutching his bleeding head. When he felt the full force of the impact, he became dizzy and couldn't get up. All he could do was watch Rhyme, who was squatting on the wall and staring down at him with insane blue eyes, scratching at the back of her neck like she had gone crazy…

Before Neku could completely grasp the situation, Rhyme launched herself from the wall. Landing on top of him, she began to sob while wrapping her hands around his throat, her nails digging into his skin and making him bleed. "I'm sorry, Neku," she whispered between the tears. Neku clutched at Rhyme's hands for a moment, gasping for his breath, but somehow managed to keep his eyes locked on to Rhyme's face. Something changed in her eyes, in her expression, and she gave a wickedly dark grin.

"I have to trust my partner, the key to my survival; though it's kind of sick, because really he's my rival," Rhyme sang shrilly. Neku's heart stopped beating for a moment, but when it pumped again, he had found the solution. Pulling a hand away from grabbing at Rhyme's wrists, Neku reached up and stroked the back of her neck where the girl had been scratching throughout the day. There he felt several rather huge and gross bumps that were starting to fester, like some kind of bug bite. He felt around the immediate area, but couldn't find any sort of bug nearby. It had to be on the girl though; she had been bitten more than once during the day.

While trying to hold on to consciousness, Neku began to feel around Rhyme's body with both hands. The girl seemed oblivious to his groping; she was so fixated on her hands and the sensation of holding someone's life in them that she didn't care. His search became more desperate. She was beginning to cry and black spots were cutting through his vision. They couldn't lose this way, not like this…

His fingers brushed against something large and squishy that did not feel like any part of Rhyme's anatomy inside of her hoodie's hood. With zero time for hesitation, he grabbed at the pulsating mass and ripped it away from Rhyme's hoodie. Throwing it away, he mustered the strength to kick Rhyme off of him. Free of her weight and her crushing hands, he gasped for air and struggled up to his feet. He faced the direction that he had thrown the insect creature, squinting in the darkness and looking for it.

He didn't need to search for long before he saw it. There, kicking feebly in the air while trapped on its back like a turtle, the insect thing lay. It looked like a mass jumble of a random assortment of insects slapped into a ball of clay, many assorted and useless wings buzzing here and there, a few stingers jutting out from different limbs. Cradling his throat in one hand, Neku held up a Pin in the other. Slowly energy and light began to train in and focus on the Pin in his hand, and after the attack had charged, it emitted a powerfully bright blue beam of energy. The Pin was good for one use only with the exchange of unsurpassed power, but Neku felt like he could never be able to kill that damned thing dead enough for what it did to Rhyme.

Left panting in the Miyashita Park Underpass, the darkness billowing away from Neku like he was some new force of light, the boy stared around in the bit of daylight that managed to pierce the Underpass darkness. He turned to check on Rhyme, and turned just in time to hear the chime of a familiar, sad bell. His eyes widened, his sight filling with purple light, and a cry dying on his lips. Once the brightness faded, Rhyme stood over Neku's dead body, breathing heavily. The last bit of poison from the insect thing was still disintegrating against the force of her body's immunity system, so she had not come back in control in time to stop herself from blasting Neku.

Crying into her hands while she sank to her knees beside Neku's body, Rhyme sobbed and cried as if she had never cried in her life before. She had doubted him and suspected him, then she had killed him. Now she was really going to lose the Game, and she would never see Shiki again. She would never see Neku again for that matter.

"It looks like you've put yourself in a fine predicament, hmm?" a voice cooed from the darkness. Rhyme glanced up, looking around the Underpass for the source of the voice. It didn't take long for her eyes to freeze on a familiar pair of wings… and an unfamiliar face.

"Who…?" Her voice was weak, barely audible. There, leaning against the familiar wall that marked the first death of a young girl, was a Higher Being, white wings lazily stretching from his back. He gave a tip of his head. "Hello to you, Rhyme. I don't think we've ever had the pleasure to meet face to face. My name is Joshua." His grin widened when he saw that his name struck a chord of familiarity within Rhyme. Her eyes narrowed dangerously. Neku had explained who exactly Joshua had been in relation to the first Game. The one who had killed Neku.

"You… You were the one who shot me and Neku, huh!? Don't bother lyin' to me, yo!" In her rage, a bit of her older brother's slang snuck into her words. The Higher Being put his hands up defensively.

"Whoah, where have I heard that familiar tune from? Look, you probably won't believe me, but I really didn't shoot anyone this time around! Actually, I'm not even running this Game. How can I explain this so you will understand…? Oh!

"Think of me as Uzuki or… Kariya," Joshua said. When confusion flashed over Rhyme's expression, Joshua ran his fingers through his hair and added, "Ah, you would know of them as Pinky or Lollipop. Your friends never really bothered to learn the real names of a few lowly Reapers. Yech, it sickens me to put myself on their level, but there you have it. However, on this particular plane of existence, my position is better known as Angel. Keep that in mind, eh?"

Rhyme crossed her arms and stared at him, though in her silence her mind was racing. What was it that she had been told when she had been introduced to WildKat's owner, Mr. Hanekoma, and told that he was also an important factor during the first Game? Different planes of existence living stacked atop one another, and Higher Beings having the ability to change their frequency – that is to say, to change their position from one plane of existence to another – at any time. It was starting to make sense a little, though Rhyme was not sure exactly how.

"You still seem to be a little confused," Joshua observed, and when he was met with only silence, he gave a dry chuckle. "Alright, think of this: The Reapers' Game takes place on a separate plane from that of your reality, and the two planes are called the Underground and Realground, or UG and RG respectively.

"Right now you are on a different plane, but when you died in the RG, instead of going to the UG, you were brought here to the HG by special order. Really you should be honored, it's rare for a game to take place in the HG," he said, stepping away from the wall and walking over to Rhyme.

She glared up at him, hate blazing fiercely in her eyes. "The HG, huh? And you're an Angel… So I suppose HG stands for Highground… Aha! It's some sick little clever twist, isn't it? You mean to say I've died and gone to heaven?" Rhyme said bitterly. Joshua shrugged as if it were meaningless.

"Well, what most people call 'heaven'. Really though, we're just tuned to a higher frequency than the RG and UG, and people like to think that going up is better than going down. Not many actually come here, however. This is a special part of the HG, used specifically for special circumstance Games." Rhyme was quiet at these words. Just what did he mean by special circumstance?

Giving his head a light slap as if he had just remembered something important, he said, "Ah, but enough about that! We need to take care of this situation here. You can't proceed through the Game without a Partner." Kneeling down beside Rhyme and Neku, he smiled at her when she pulled away in anger. "Let's see that black Pin of yours," he said.

"Why? What's it to you? You can't bring Neku back, we've lost," Rhyme growled. Joshua shook his head and held out his hand for the Pin. When he didn't answer and just waited for the Pin, Rhyme growled again, but pulled the gleaming Pin from her hoodie pocket. "Here," she mumbled while dropping it on his palm.

"Thank you," he said sincerely, making Rhyme want to gag. Holding the Pin in one hand, he said, "You see, this is a very special Pin that can only be found and used here in the HG. It gives the user one chance to revive the dead without the penalty of losing their entrance fee, but it can only be initialized by an Angel or above and is good only once in its lifetime. Think of it as an extra life." Gently he poked the Pin and it started to glow from his touch. The blue glow encompassed the entire Pin for a few moments, and when it faded it left behind a single white feather on the gleaming black.

Handing the Pin back to Rhyme, he stood up and gave a nod. "Well, that's all I can do for you today… Oh, I almost forgot something else! The rest of this Game will follow pretty much the same as before, with your Mission being a single fight. Tomorrow, however, you both will fight me in the Room of Reckoning. Neku knows where that is, but I'll lead you there myself. Be prepared, hmm?" Waving, he walked off and vanished into the shadows, leaving Rhyme alone by Neku's body, clutching on to the angel feather Pin.

She stared down at the feather. Joshua had said that they wouldn't lose their entry fees for this, but that meant that they _did_ have entry fees. She still didn't know what she had paid to get into this damning Game. She was very afraid of losing it, whatever it was. Holding the pin to her breast in one hand while extending her other hand out over Neku's body, she shut her eyes and called the Pin's Psych.

Power flooded into her from the Pin, and soaked in some of the energy of her life. She felt it drain her, making her exhausted, but she let it go until she felt it move from her outstretched hand. It enveloped Neku, and a moment later Rhyme heard him cough. In her hand the Pin turned to ash.

Letting the ash go, Rhyme hugged Neku fiercely, not answering his questions and simply crying on him. "I'm sorry," she whispered, again and again, too hurt to want to think about anything else except Neku's second chance to finish this Game with her.

-End Day 3


	5. Fifth Tag Color: Gold

The World Ends With You

CAT's Mural

Fifth Tag Color: Gold

This time when Rhyme came to, she was sitting up. She was cradling her head in her hands and whispering, "I'm sorry," over and over, her voice weak and fading out. Once she had a real conscious thought tickle through her head, she silenced her cracking voice and lifted her heavy head. When she stared out around her, all she saw was that damning darkness, pressing in all around just as before. It was eternal and devastatingly still.

She studied it for a while, that overwhelming, opaque darkness. It seemed calming almost, the way it stifled everything except for a tiny space around Rhyme. In a way, it forced Rhyme to step back and take a good look at herself without any distractions. So… Rhyme did just that.

What had she _done_ yesterday? She had killed Neku in cold blood, taken his life just as carelessly as the bastard who had shot her only days before. Rubbing her face, she wasn't surprised to feel dampness against her palms. She was crying again. How could she have suspected Neku of shooting her? He was in the _same_ situation as her! Someone had shot him, too. She should be focusing on helping him get through the missions so they can find out who brought them back into such a hellish shit-crock, and then pay the bastard back thrice-fold.

Leaning back against the wall of the Miyashita Park Underpass, Rhyme stared off into the darkness, but looking beyond it rather than trying to stare through it. She brought from her mind the image of CAT's mural, recalling the swirls of color, the rough texture of the wall, the way the paint still held a faint smell… And she remembered Shiki. Ooh, that brunette was foxy all on her own, never mind the borrowed form she had used during the first Game! Faintly Rhyme smiled at this thought. Personally, she liked the shy brunette better.

Her hair, oh, it smelled like sunshine and was as soft as clouds… Well, what Rhyme imagined clouds felt like. Mm, and she remembered the way the older girl's lips tasted, the way they felt against her tongue. Before Shiki had finally taken her on the second last night of her life, Rhyme had been the one with the frisky wandering hands. Hey, Rhyme was a curious girl, and Shiki didn't seem to mind the attention.

She would always remember the very first kiss she had shared with Shiki…

_Rhyme stumbled off of the train and almost fell with a surprised cry. The older girl grabbed her arm and helped to steady her. In the process, Rhyme leaned in against Shiki a little more than she had intended, and the two girls shared a rather profound look. Their eye meeting was brief, and left both girls turning away to hide small blushes. _

Ah, yeah. Rhyme recalled all of the awkward moments she and Shiki had shared before their relationship had deepened. If she were looking back at these moments with Shiki, it would almost be a little humorous, but given Rhyme's current circumstances, thinking about it alone stabbed at her heart. She went on anyway, because she knew it would be the only thing to keep her going…

_"Careful there, Rhyme," Shiki chuckled, staring at a crowd of loud teenagers nearby. Rhyme purposefully stared up at the sky, straightening the black beanie on her head as she replied, "Yeah, yeah…" With that awkward silence in place, the two girls proceeded on their usual route from the train stop to the Udagawa back streets, and CAT's mural._

_All around Shibuya was lit for the night ahead. The place that the two girls were headed was usually an empty spot, well lit enough to see the detail of the painting but closed in enough to make it feel like a private sanctuary. As usual, they were the only souls around the back alleys of Udagawa, but it was just the way they preferred it._

_Walking over to the wall, Rhyme lightly rested her fingertips on the cheek of the Ghost Cat, studying its image. Shiki stood a few feet behind her, watching Rhyme while the younger girl traced along the curving mouth line of the cat's head. She could tell that there was something on Rhyme's mind, but she would wait for the girl to find the words herself. After a few quiet moments, she did._

_"…It was a dark time, wasn't it?" Rhyme whispered, keeping her eyes on the mural but her quiet tone obviously directed at the older girl. Shiki approached, standing beside the younger blonde. In her mind Rhyme pictured herself wrapping an arm around that shyly hidden but sexily curved waist, but physically she simply let her hand drop from touching the wall. Those thoughts were best left alone, she figured._

_From the corner of her eye, Shiki could see Rhyme's shoulders sagging with a rarely seen weight. Rhyme was usually the girl to lean on, taking everything with a smile and always full of hope; but now, with the two alone, Shiki could clearly see that Rhyme hurt just as much as any other person, and needed someone to draw strength from too. "Oh, Rhyme," Shiki said, pulling Rhyme into a tight embrace to the younger girl's surprise. Holding her close, Shiki cradled Rhyme's head in her hands. She could feel the smaller girl starting to tremble with all of the unshed tears._

_"It's okay; you don't ever have to hide your pain from me. Tell me all about it, I'm listening," Shiki said, pulling the black hat from Rhyme's head so she could roam her fingers through silken blonde hair. The two sank to sit on the ground, leaning against CAT's mural while the young girl finally found someone to confide her soul in. She didn't bother to hold back the tears as she confessed her thoughts through gasping whispers, telling Shiki how the whole event had made her feel, back then and how it still haunted her even now. _

_She didn't stop there, letting her worries carry over to those little dark thoughts that Rhyme catches herself having throughout the days. Shiki listened to it all with open ears and an open heart, keeping her silence until the younger girl had finally become quiet and still, lying on Shiki's lap while Shiki continued to caress her hair. Once the calm had become comfortable on an almost intimate level, Shiki said, "You know, Rhyme, your hair is beautiful. It shines like gold and it's really soft. I love it…" _

_The way Shiki trailed off caused Rhyme to lift her head and finally meet the older girl eye to eye for the first time since they had stepped off of the train. She saw the small, gentle smile on Shiki's face, and then she saw her dark glistening eyes, wet with tears. Somewhere during the eye contact, Rhyme comprehended that Shiki understood a lot more than she was letting on about. Softly, Rhyme caressed one of Shiki's damp cheeks, the moisture of her tears coating Rhyme's fingertips…_

Rhyme realized that she was holding a hand against her chest. Underneath her fingertips, she could feel her heart pounding hard, racing just as fast as it had in those moments leading up to their first kiss. It was a bittersweet memory; it was beautiful as it was painful. Subconsciously Rhyme lifted a sleeved hand to wipe away the tears, but when she pulled the fabric back, she was a little shocked to see that it was dry. It seemed that she had cried all of her tears, and there was nothing left within her but a comfortable numbness. Whether she won this Game or not, it appeared as if her heart no longer cared about the outcome.

Sighing a little, she let her head hit the wall and shut her eyes tight. It was no good. Even with her eyes closed, she could still feel that damn crushing darkness pressing in all around her, trying to suffocate her very soul. _What the hell do I care anymore, _she thought numbly, opening her eyes and looking to her right. Lying on the ground next to her, Neku was still sleeping. _How long have I been awake…?_ No. It was better to not think about it. There was no point, really.

"Hey, Neku," Rhyme muttered, shaking the older boy. She figured that she had sat in quiet remembrance long enough, and it was time to get on with the mission. "Neku, wake up," Rhyme said, shaking him a little harder. Finally he sat up, groaning a little and rubbing his eyes. Meeting Rhyme's dusty blue eyes, he faintly recalled the last day they had lived through. It made his head hurt and his chest tighten.

Getting to his feet, he attempted to dust himself off, but just like Rhyme, he was covered with grime from waking up on the dingy streets. For a moment Neku paused and studied the younger girl, taking in her rag-tag appearance. Her face was smudged with dirt, tear stained trails down her cheeks, and more dirt on top of that; however, when Neku studied her eyes, they were completely tear-free.

She stared up at him in silence for a moment, watching him. He wasn't sure if he should say something, or if he should be nervous. Rhyme had snapped yesterday. She had been poisoned by some fucked up bug thing, and who knew if the poison was still effecting her or not. She seemed fine, although she was eerily silent.

"So… I wonder what happens today," Neku said after a moment. Rhyme sighed and finally broke her unwavering gaze on him. Her behavior clearly stated that she wanted to say something, but for one reason or another was hesitating. She gazed into the inky blackness. Neku crossed his arms. He would be patient, and wait. Rhyme always found the words she wanted.

"Yesterday, when you were… when you were gone for a while, I met Joshua…" Rhyme began in a low murmur. Her voice grew a little in volume as she continued to explain everything she had been told by their mysterious glowing guide. It was the number one rule for survival in any Game, after all. Trust your partner. Neku needed to know as much as possible if they were to have any chance of returning home again.

Finally, Rhyme ended by letting Neku know that their mission set ahead for them that day was to defeat the Angel Joshua. An utter and complete silence followed these words, but only for a moment.

"_Shit._"

Neku growled, reaching into his pocket to take a quick stock of his Pins. This time the sick rules of this Game had be gracious; Neku was blessed with six Pins for battling. A healing Pin, a Pin used for instant teleportation, a Pin with a rather nasty powerful red beam sword, a Pin that gave Neku the ability to shoot lightning, one for laying time bombs, and a Pin that would create blue fire with constant concentration. It wasn't a bad lot, but Neku seriously wondered if they would be able to hold up against the Joshua of the HG.

Attaching the teleportation Pin Walk On, Walk Off to the bottom of his shirt, he carefully tucked the healing Pin, the bomb Pin, and the lightning Pin into one pocket, and the sword and blue flame Pins in another. "Rhyme, what Pins do you have on you?" Neku asked, coming to her side to see. Slowly she reached into the front pocket on her hoodie and mentally counted what she felt against her fingers before pulling them out.

When she held out the six Pins, both her and Neku looked at them with a bit of surprise. "Whoah, wait a second… I've heard Mr. Hanekoma talk about these. 'When six dark planets align…'" Neku said with a touch of wonder, looking down at the six dark Pins. Black Mars, a Pin with a burning black fire Psych; Black Jupiter, a Pin that shot forth deadly black lightning; Black Uranus, a devastating icicle blade; Black Venus, a projectile Pin; Black Mercury, a Pin used to create orbs of dark water; and Black Saturn, a Pin that emits a black healing barrier.

Rhyme shook her hand a bit, moving around the Pins so she could take a look at them all. Each one bore a different piece of CAT's famous graffiti art, each one brilliant. How did Rhyme end up with the Pins of darkness? She shuddered at the implications and quickly stuffed them away. "Uh, I suppose I can give those a try if somehow my Psych is blocked by Joshua…" Rhyme said, letting her words die on her lips when she uttered the horrible and very possible idea. She wasn't even sure if she could use the Pins at all. That thought was even more stomach churning than the last.

The only way for her to have a chance at surviving was to somehow win this fight against Joshua with Neku at her side. She certainly would have no chance if she gave up before the fight even started. Right, she had to try to find strength. It was the only way she would make it…

_She didn't want to be afraid anymore. Deep down, Rhyme always felt a little shaky, a little terrified. She was always anxious, although she could usually cover it up with a smile. Even now, her heart was racing hard and her breath was frozen with her apprehension. She feared Shiki, because, for some reason, she wanted to love her. Rhyme couldn't find a rational reason for the way she felt. The only way she could explain it was simply that it was just supposed to be that way._

_The older girl was intoxicating. In the silent, still moment that Rhyme had somehow been blessed to experience, she paused before the plunge, taking in the delicate scent of Shiki, close enough to smell her tears. Her skin was soft against Rhyme's fingers where she still held Shiki's wet cheek, and her dark eyes were… Oh, they were mesmerizing and beautiful, like rich and rare chocolate. _

_In the dim light Rhyme could still see that Shiki was blushing lightly. Her breathing was quick, and her eyelashes fluttered wildly from the contact of Rhyme's fingertips on her cheek. Was she as curious – and as frightened – as Rhyme? There was one way to find out._

_Moving her fingers from Shiki's cheek to her glasses, Rhyme found that her hand was shaking hard, but it was too late to hesitate. Somehow she managed to gently grasp Shiki's glasses and ease them off. As soon as she moved them, Shiki was the one to close the distance between the two. At last moist, trembling lips met in the first bitter kiss…_

Rhyme was jarred away from her memory detour, brought back to her horrible reality by the sight of a growing light. It formed into the all too familiar pair of wings, nothing more, and gave a lazy flap. Her eyes met Neku's and he could clearly see her fear, her terror. He felt his heart tighten with pain and he had to look away. There was no more time for thinking.

With a brilliant flash of blue, the wings took off. It was going to be a very long run to the Room of Reckoning, but Neku was already exhausted with what lay ahead. He couldn't help but think that the odds were heavily stacked against them, and judging from the way Rhyme was carrying herself, she thought much the same.

The darkness was overbearing.

It pressed in on them from all around, the glow of their guiding wings hardly putting a dent into the oppressive nothingness. The bit of street they could see when they looked down at their feet gave little clue to their location. All they could do was run and follow those wings, to what possibly might be their everlasting end. Rhyme couldn't bear to think about it.

They said absolutely nothing to each other, all of their breaths spent for the effort of their bodies. If Rhyme forced herself to stare off into the darkness hard enough, she could almost see straight through it and into her memories again. The image of Shiki came almost at once, surprising Rhyme a little with how easy it was to recall, and with it continued the mental play of their first kiss.

_Surprised at the audacity of Shiki, the younger girl let out a small gasp against the kiss. Her dusty blue eyes closed while her mouth parted to Shiki's tongue. The older girl was only more than ecstatic to oblige to Rhyme's eager tongue. Their tongues met in a hot, wet embrace, sharing their breath for several heart pounding moments. It was all Rhyme could do to keep her hands to herself._

_She could taste the bitterness of their tears in that kiss, hers as well as Shiki's. It was a flavor that would forever stay with her. By now she had given in to the itch of her hands, and her fingertips were caressing the older girl's soft stomach, underneath her clothes. Rhyme wasn't sure when she had moved to straddle Shiki's lap, but she became aware of this when she felt a thigh lift up to graze between her spread legs. Her body trembled at the teasing touch._

_Eventually the curious hands and timid intimate touches came to an end, and they parted from their long, lusty first kiss. Eyes opened and met in a silent, joyous agreement. There would be no hesitation, no holding back now. They had given curiosity a try, and the results were no less than explosive – in Rhyme's case anyway. "We shouldn't take it too fast… even though I want to," Rhyme breathed, trying to hide the tremble in her thighs. _

_Shiki gave a quiet nod, but she gently grasped Rhyme's head and pulled her into another kiss, softer and quicker this time. "Don't worry, we will," Shiki whispered back, and gave Rhyme another soft kiss. They stared into each other's eyes for a while, and fell into one more long and passionate kiss. After, they finally untangled from one another. They had to hurry to catch the last running trains to their homes; it was a late hour. _

Rhyme tripped and sent herself into a painful skid against the rough floor. Once she had come to a complete stop, she simply lay there, gasping and panting from the long hard run. She looked up to see Neku standing beside her, but he wasn't looking at her. Following his eye path, she saw that the wings had finally come to a stop. This was it then. The Room of Reckoning.

Getting to her feet, Rhyme ignored the burning pain on her palms and knees. She watched, as silent as Neku, as those wings turned, and in the turn Joshua showed himself. "Wow, I'm surprised you actually kept up with me that whole way. Very impressive. What do you say I let you catch your breath before we get this battle underway, hmm? I won't be holding back, so be ready," Joshua sang, and let his entire form vanish from sight completely.

Darkness settled in around the two solitary Players. Neku looked at Rhyme, but she wouldn't gaze in his direction. He could tell that she was silently suffering, but she was trying to keep it under control. He could relate; he was feeling much the same. Joshua was confident, and he had all right to be. It felt impossible to win, but somehow they would have to.

Neku poised himself, holding a few choice Pins from his current collection. From his right hand, the red sword initiated itself from the Pin, quietly charging power. Rhyme nervously chimed her bell, hesitating at the thought that it might not sound for her like it had before. However, this time its serene soft ring called out, making her aura visible as she tapped into her Psych, and she almost felt like she could cry in relief.

Before the two Players, a light formed. From this small, solitary light, the darkness vanished away completely, leaving behind a pristine white and gold room. The brightness about blinded Neku and Rhyme, and they both cursed under the same breath. This was just another disadvantage to them; after several days of such intense darkness, their eyes burned and would need time to adjust.

This was going to be a quick battle in either direction, Neku figured. If Rhyme's power couldn't somehow cripple Joshua, Neku didn't think they would survive for long themselves.

The small light rapidly grew and took shape, flaring up into a huge fifteen foot tall ball of blue tipped white flames. The light was so bright that Neku and Rhyme both had to shield their eyes, until it had dimmed enough for them to somewhat see again. Once they could somewhat make out the form before them, Rhyme felt a little weak in the knees.

Standing before them now was a tall fiery Phoenix, nearly ten feet tall from its talons to its flaming head. Its fire burned so hot, it was white and blue in color. The Players both knew that to be touched by that flame would be the worst sensation in existance, _if _they even survived. The mighty bird stared down at them with humorous silver eyes, then let out a hellish shriek of screaming flames in their direction.

Neku and Rhyme dove in opposite directions, the ball of white fire exploding into the gleaming marble floor. Rolling back onto his feet, Neku traded his sword for the lighting Psych. Thick jolts of lightning erupted from his palm, aimed straight for the white Phoenix. The bird screamed as it was hit by the attack and engulfed in an explosion of white blue fire.

For a moment Neku thought it was already over, but his blood froze when he realized how wrong he was. His attack hadn't hurt it at all; rather, it had helped the Phoenix. Its ever burning fire had consumed the lightning and expended the energy all across its body. Now, it was easily over twenty feet.

"Oh, shit," Neku breathed, looking wildly around for the girl. She had landed a little less gracefully than Neku, and was picking herself back up. The Phoenix saw this as well, and with a scream headed for Rhyme with talons ready. Without another thought Neku vanished as the bird reached Rhyme.

Sharp talons flew for her head, but they were stopped against the edge of a blazing crimson sword. Neku now stood between Joshua and Rhyme, his speed instant thanks to the Pin he had equipped earlier. He gritted his teeth against the force of holding the tall monster back, but the bird won the fight of strength and sent Neku flying away. "_RHYME!_" Neku cried, twisting his body in the air to land on his feet.

The girl was already up and on her feet, running away from Joshua. She clutched the bell tightly in one hand, staring over her shoulder as she aimed with the other behind her. With a shout from the rush of adrenaline, Rhyme released one of her powerful beams of purple aura.

Unfortunately she had not seen Neku when he had shot the Phoenix before, making it grow with his attack. Just as before, Joshua absorbed Rhyme's power and reflected it like a mirror, quadrupling in size with another huge explosion. Rhyme and Neku both were thrown back from the force, Rhyme close enough to get burned on her hands and face some, her clothes singed and smoking a little. It was obvious at this point to both Players that attacks of that manner were not working. Neku assumed his fire and bomb Pins would also yield a similar effect. They _had_ to think of something else!

Extending its wings that were now over one hundred feet in length, the white Phoenix jumped into the air and soared high. It flew high, high, and higher still up into the endless expanse of the Room of Reckoning. As it circled above, it released mighty majestic cries.

Neku transported himself to Rhyme's side. "We have to try to think," he said, holding out his Pins. He quickly healed Rhyme's burns, his healing Pin just happening to have a bonus for burns, and the girl thanked him while freeing her own Pins from a pocket.

"Well…" Rhyme mused, staring up at the giant bird of fire. "Well, Joshua is a humongous fucking bird on fire. Hitting him with more fire like this is only going to make it worse…" She fell silent as Joshua unleashed another huge ball of screaming white fire, aimed right at them. Without hesitation Neku scooped Rhyme up in his arms and disappeared, out of the way of the huge explosion that left a crater in the marble floor.

They appeared again quite a distance away, Neku using Walk On, Walk Off until he had expended it. It needed to reboot, but Joshua had already unleashed another fast moving ball of fire at their new location. They wouldn't be able to move out of the way, and the Pin wouldn't reboot quick enough. Rhyme stared up at their certain end, but one of the Pins she still clutched in her hand activated.

From her still visible aura, her purple turned into a chilling black and expanded around both her and Neku. Black Saturn glowed in her hand, its protective barrier of her now dark aura forming just before the fire hit. The white fire exploded and expanded around the entire round barrier. White and blue flames were overcome by darkness, and the energy of the attack was transformed into a dark healing power that filled both Neku and Rhyme with strength. The two Players shared a surprised look between them. One of the dark planet Pins had worked for Rhyme. Would the others?

The dark aura faded from the barrier, melting back down to hugging right around Rhyme's body again. However, her purple shade didn't come back. Her light stayed black. She was worried about the change of color, but she had zero time to dwell on it.

Up above the Phoenix had let out an annoyed cry when it saw that its attack had failed to turn the two Players into ash. It circled around, starting to drift lower and lower. Joshua was toying with them now.

Squinting down at the other Pins in her hand, Rhyme selected two of them based on a hunch. Joshua was just as she had described him: a humongous fucking bird on fire. Fire was an element, and like all elements has a weakness. "I need him to be on the ground again. I have an idea…" Rhyme said to Neku, holding up the two Pins for him to see. When he understood their meaning, he smiled and finally set her on the ground.

"Leave that to me," he said, looking up at Joshua. The bird was coming closer anyway; Neku just had to lure it in the right place. "Get ready to attack. I'll bring him to you," Neku said before vanishing. Walk On, Walk Off had already rebooted itself. Rhyme mentally ran through her strategy one more time and started to prepare herself. She knew that there would be no room for error, thanks to Joshua's immense size adding to his explosive power. At close range, there would be no chance for survival, even with a barrier.

Neku appeared once more, just below the Phoenix. He extended the glowing red sword from the Pin and waved it up at the Phoenix, taunting it to come get him, making it look like he wanted to tango with Joshua one on one.

He knew that Joshua's constant itch at wanting to test out the full extent of Neku's possibilities would be too much to resist. Just as he thought, the bird landed on the marble floor, blazing eyes and complete attention on the boy. The Phoenix fully extended its wings, further exaggerating its already giant size.

While Neku approached with crimson blade held in battle stance, Rhyme got as close as she could without being noticed. Even from far away, both Players could feel the blistering heat from the white hot fires of the Phoenix, but they both set their jaws against the growing, burning pain and went on.

Joshua towered above Neku, glaring down at him with blazing silver eyes. Extending a long, slender neck, the bird's head shot forward, sharp beak aimed for Neku's heart. The boy blocked it with his sword, but the force of the attack still sent him flying through the air. He spun his body to land on his feet again, digging his fiery red blade into the white marble floor to stop the skid.

With a mighty battle cry Neku ripped the sword out of the marble and charged forward, blazing crimson held high above his head. Behind the Phoenix, Rhyme was trying to figure out how to activate the power of the dark planet Pin Black Uranus.

After a moment she stopped squinting at the actual Pin with concentrated effort, and instead turned her attention to Joshua. Holding her bell in one hand and holding the Pin she wanted to use out in the other, she gave the bell a small ring. It let out a dull metallic clank rather than its usual beautiful and mystic sound, another detail that worried Rhyme but would have to wait until later, but the Pin still glowed in response.

The floor under the bird rumbled, low at first, but it quickly grew force. Losing balance, the white Phoenix stumbled around, flapping its wings to try to steady itself. From the marble a huge, jagged, and sharp icicle broke through and shot upwards. Instead of tearing right through the middle of the giant creature like Rhyme had intended, it impaled one of its fiery wings. This time when the Phoenix screamed, it was a sound of pain. The black ice had penetrated through the flame covered feathers of its wing.

So Joshua wasn't invincible.

To Neku, that was the best news in the world second to discovering CAT's true identity and knowing the man personally. It meant that they had a chance, and Rhyme held the key that would save them against their angelic white death.

Before Joshua could tear free of the cutting ice, Rhyme was already initiating the next step in her strategy. Now holding Black Mercury tightly in her right fist, she glared at the blindingly bright Phoenix and hit her bell.

It gave a metallic clank, and Black Mercury started to glow. Its Psych activated almost instantly, and from her hand a swirling globe of eerie black water grew. The bubble of water grew fast, but it didn't get very big like Rhyme was praying it would.

When she realized that it wasn't going to get any bigger, she cursed and left it hovering in the air by the Phoenix. She began to run along the giant Phoenix, quickly making another orb of water and leaving it in her trail. She continued to do this while at last Joshua pulled free of the ice.

The Phoenix shrieked in pain and swung its injured wing. The movement sent the wing crashing into the orbs of dark water Rhyme had left floating in the air. The orbs burst, black water quickly running all over the Phoenix's already hurt wing – and extinguishing the flames on it.

Left in the wake of the water that refused to evaporate, the once flaming white wing now looked soggy, the feathers grey from the water that still clung to them. The area that the ice had impaled showed obvious signs of trauma: many feathers broken and out of place, the wing arching in a sick direction that wasn't a typical shape of the bird's anatomy, and blazing blue-white fireblood oozing down the feathers.

Try as it might, the Phoenix could not get the wing to reignite. The black water was almost like a sticky substance, keeping the flames extinguished. With an aggravated cry that quickly turned into a scream of pain, the Phoenix flapped its broken wing to try to shake the water off. Rhyme and Neku grinned in the same instant.

Flashing his crimson blade, Neku again started towards the Phoenix. The bird swung its head around, rage and pain blazing in its silver eyes. It aimed its beak again for Neku's chest, but just before impact the boy vanished. The bird rammed its beak painfully deep into the marble and got it stuck.

Neku reappeared by its broken wing, swinging his sword. The white Phoenix struggled to free its beak, but its talons slipped and scratched at the floor in futile effort. This time the bird's scream of pain was muffled by the floor, Neku's blade making a successful cut.

Grey feathers and splatters of fireblood flew in the air, the bird again foolishly flapping its broken wing. Rhyme continued making her path around Joshua, leaving more orbs of dark water. The more the Phoenix struggled, the more its body was coated in black water. Rhyme kept running and leaving orbs until the Pin had been expended and needed to reboot.

Neku had pulled away, needing a few seconds to cool off from being so close to Joshua's intense heat. He was panting for air, sweat starting to roll down his face. Rolling his wrist to spin the red sword, he grinned and vanished.

The Phoenix was swinging its other, still flaming wing, trying to bat Rhyme and her water away. Its neck strained with the effort of trying to free its beak from marble, and with an inelegant flap managed to at last pull free.

It gave a triumphant cry as its wing hit something that wasn't wet, but its cry faded out into a gurgled gasp. Neku stood behind the bird, his crimson sword deeply embedded in its spinal cord through a patch of wet extinguished feathers from one of the orbs.

Letting the red light vanish, Neku took a step back and watched Joshua fall. The Phoenix hit the marble floor with a wheezing cry, broken wing jutting out at a gawky angle. Neku looked around to share his grin of victory with Rhyme, but the girl wasn't nearby like he thought.

"Rhyme…? Rhyme… _Rhyme!_" Neku spotted the girl laying quite a distance away. She wasn't moving. Inhaling a sharp, painful breath, Neku vanished and instantly appeared by her side, kneeling down on the marble floor. He could smell burnt flesh and his hand froze midair to reach for Rhyme. _Oh God _Neku thought numbly.

When his hand touched her shoulder, the girl let out a high pitched scream of pain. His hand flew away from her, and feeling a little woozy Neku whispered her name. She replied with a strained whimper. Neku pulled his healing Pin from his pocket, ignoring the flash of light from where Joshua's Highground form lay. Without rolling Rhyme over to assess the damage, Neku instead just used the Pin's Psych, thankful that this particular Pin had an additional bonus for fire burns.

A dark, cool shade of red emitted from his hand and enveloped Rhyme. Her painful whimpers finally came to a stop, and that sick odor of burnt flesh disappeared, although Neku would remember it for the rest of his days. The girl moved, sitting up and meeting Neku's eyes for a moment.

Her sight flashed to the Phoenix to see what it was doing, unaware that Neku had already defeated it, and she hissed, "Where is he?!" Neku turned to look, and saw that the giant white bird was gone.

Shooting straight up to his feet, Neku's eyes scanned in every direction, but all he could see was the crumbled remains of a once pristine white hemmed with gold marble floor. He looked up, but saw nothing in the endless expanses of the ceiling.

Rhyme stood beside him, searching for the bird as well. When they heard the sound of debris being moved, they both looked in the same direction to see the same mind boggling sight. Picking his way through the chunks of broken marble and heading in their direction was Mr. Hanekoma.

When he saw that they were both looking at him with the same shocked stare, he gave them a friendly wave and said, "Hey there boss, Rhyme. That was one hell of a fight you two put up. I'm impressed." Behind him, flexing and lazily flapping as he stepped this way and that, was a pair of angelic wings, just like Joshua's but with one big difference. Mr. Hanekoma's feathers were black, not white.

Rhyme was speechless for a moment, then she flew into a spitting rage, her still visible black aura flaring out in anger. "Impressed? _Impressed?!_ We just _barely_ survived, and you're impressed?! You know what, Mr. H? You can just go fuck yourself, because I'm tired of playing these sick, fucked up things _you_ call Games! Game over, shut the power off, I'm done!" She threw her hands up in the air while she spat the last sentence and let them fall down to her sides again in her silence.

For a moment both Mr. Hanekoma and Neku looked at her with some surprise. The first to come out of it was Mr. Hanekoma, and he said, "I completely understand your rage, Rhyme, trust me I do, but there's something you gotta know. This isn't just any ordinary Game that everyone who dies gets a chance to play; this is a very special Game. I can't give you all of the details up front, but believe me I want you to know what's going on.

"The only thing I can tell you is that this Game is a kind of test for you, and you're going to have to trust each other and pull through. Today you took on Joshua, an Angel on this plane of existence, and you won. You beat him on his own frequency.

"Tomorrow, however, you're going to be facing me." His words left a very heavy silence. Rhyme sank to her knees, her legs too weak to hold her up any longer. Mr. Hanekoma? In a battle? They had only managed to beat Joshua with supreme luck, but against Mr. Hanekoma they knew luck would never be enough.

The Fallen Angel let out a breath. "Listen… Tomorrow, if you defeat me, I can tell you the whole reason for why you're both here, in this Game. The higher-ups won't let me give away too much until they are absolutely certain of their choices, so you beat me, and I get to talk," Mr. Hanekoma said. Neku gave a small nod, but Rhyme sat on the floor as her black aura faded, drawing up her knees to cross her arms on them and bury her face.

"Make no mistake though," Mr. Hanekoma continued in a deadly serious voice, "that despite the fact I want to help you, I will not be holding anything back tomorrow. We'll meet on the roof of Pork City, and you will be using the same Pins you had today. Take some time, think some strategies over. I guarantee you will need them." Again Neku gave a small nod, and Rhyme's shoulders sagged.

With that out of the way, the hard expression on Mr. Hanekoma's face softened. "I'm sorry about this guys, but believe me, it's worth the price," he said. Rhyme lifted her head to meet him eye to eye, the tears still unable to fall from Rhyme's tired blue gaze. She shook her head at him, slowly, somberly.

"No, there's nothing at all worth the price I've paid. Nothing."

-End Day 4


	6. Sixth Tag Color: Green

The World Ends With You

CAT's Mural

Sixth Tag Color: Green

All was silent and dark again. Rhyme lifted her head up off of the ruined marble floor and winced. She had a fierce pounding headache – not exactly the best way to start off that particular day. Sitting up completely, the young and battered girl took a long look around. She studied the endless darkness around her as if she could see different details of it, different aspects.

Her hand idly picked up a big chunk of marble, causing her eyes to turn away from the darkness to study the debris she held. After a moment, she threw it with all the strength she could will from her tired and aching body. It quickly vanished from her sight and into the darkness, clattering away loudly. The noise stirred Neku, who was still sleeping nearby.

He sat up in a huff, a Pin already held out in his hand, but once he realized that there wasn't any immediate danger, he put the Pin away. "Rhyme…?" he called softly to the girl, hesitantly. She turned and looked at him, her blue eyes heavy with her emotions and distress. Neku couldn't hold her gaze for long; it was too painful for him. Instead he stood up, purposefully turning his back to Rhyme so he wouldn't have to look at her.

"So, uh, do you still have the black planet Pins like Mr. Hanekoma said? I have the same six I had yesterday…" Neku asked, looking down at his Pins to avoid eye contact with Rhyme. He heard some shuffling behind him, then a few soft clanks, and despondently Rhyme mumbled a yes. Well, it was just as Mr. Hanekoma had promised, which meant that they would be fighting him as well. Neku was kind of hoping it had been a bad dream.

Putting his Pins away with a slow breath, he said, "I guess we should get going though. It might take us all day to pick our way through this darkness…" His voice trailed off and died on his lips as before the two Players a familiar little light grew. Somehow Neku managed to give a crooked smile despite the whole damn situation. _Beat Joshua, but didn't kill him it seems._

Rhyme didn't comment at all on the wings, but her expression did harden a lot. The wings gave their customary flap, and just like that Neku and Rhyme found themselves racing with all their exhausted bodies could muster towards a fight they didn't want to face. It was a cold, cruel twist, making the two rush headlong into such a mess, but they didn't see much choice otherwise. They had to survive.

The run through the everlasting darkness didn't seem to bother the two as much as it did before. Neku was running strategies through his head that he could think of with his current set of Pins; Rhyme was just trying to keep up with the furious pace. One of the glowing wings seemed to angle a little oddly, and when Rhyme noticed this she couldn't help the small grin of satisfaction.

The scenery didn't change in the slightest, but after an uncertain amount of running, the wings had stopped. The two Players gladly stopped as well, both raggedly panting for breath. Once Neku had enough wind to speak, he said, "Th-there's no way we're already on the r-roof of Pork City…" The wings disappeared, leaving the two alone in the empty darkness.

Taking a few steps through the darkness with his hand held out, Neku felt his fingers come in contact with a wall. Leaning in closer and squinting, he followed along the wall until he found a door. "Rhyme, come on," he called over his shoulder while grasping the cold metal. The girl stepped closer, still holding her eerie silence. Turning the handle and opening the door, Neku led the way.

Just as before, it was inky darkness, but they could see far enough to make out the stairs. "Guess we climb up," Neku said. "Let's go." They started up the bland steel staircase, their shoes making odd dull thuds rather than loud clanks. The slow climb up and through the abysmal darkness was just as silent and torturous as running blindly through it. Eventually Rhyme lost count of how many flights of stairs they had climbed, one stairway looking exactly like the one before it and the one right after it.

Thud, thud, thud. Thud, thud, thud. Silence.

"Something doesn't seem right," Neku whispered as he came to a stop, the hairs on the back of his neck standing up on end. For once Rhyme gave some kind of reply, pressing herself against Neku and hugging his arm. She agreed that something was definitely out of whack. He could feel her shivering just the slightest, trembling with fear.

Without any immediate ideas coming to mind, Neku decided it was best to keep moving, so they continued climbing up. "This would be floor 25, if Pork City somehow grew to be that tall," Neku murmured, counting off the next flight of stairs. Rhyme felt a little sick at the tone in his voice. The dull thuds of their footfalls began to sync more and more with Rhyme's racing heartbeat. Before she realized it, they were running again headlong, up the stairs.

"This has to be some kind of puzzle or something that we have to figure out," Neku gasped, "to get to the roof!" His mind raced, trying to understand what the puzzle was so he could seek the solution. Steadily from below them, far below them, a loud sound was growing. It sounded like steel grating together very slowly, but the noise was picking up.

When their feet hit flat ground signifying another floor, Neku went towards the wall rather than up the next flight of stairs. "What are you doing?" Rhyme cried, turning sharply when she saw that Neku wasn't beside her any longer. "Look for a door! It might lead us somewhere else!" Neku screamed, running his fingers over the wall and squinting at it. A moment later and Rhyme joined him in the search, grasping for a handle of some kind.

"Neku, there's no door! We need to keep climbin', yo!" Rhyme shouted, the din below now a chorus of crashing and screaming steel. Neku didn't listen, ignoring her and the sounds from below while he scraped and groped the wall. The smaller girl pulled on his clothes, trying to get him to move, screaming his name over the loud sounds below. While she struggled against him, her bell hit her chest and gave a dull thunk. Her aura responded with a dismal, dark flash, and a black light formed around her.

When Neku still wouldn't move, Rhyme pulled a Pin from random out of her pocket and aimed it at the blank, unforgiving wall. Her dark aura focused on her hand rapidly, and instantly black balls of energy flew from the Pin. They hit the wall with a deep roar, coating the surface and eating away at it like it was ice. So Rhyme could use Black Venus, too. Where the wall gave way to the consuming energy of Rhyme, a light was shining. Neku stood up straight with a loud ah-hah!

"See, I told yo-" Neku started, but was cut off when Rhyme shoved him through the growing opening with surprising strength. After that, there was nothing but light. Even the sound had stopped, and when the Players tried to look behind them, they saw only light; there was no dark.

Rhyme opened her mouth to say something about the light, but she was overcome by a strong, vivid memory. With a gasp she sank to her knees, her mind flying back to that night she had shared with Shiki before she had died again…

_Oh, why did her head feel so heavy…? She couldn't move at all, but she wanted to get her head off of Shiki's lap, to look in her pretty chocolate eyes again… Was Shiki crying? She could faintly hear the older girl sobbing hard, so she tried to ask what was wrong. Struggle as she might, she just couldn't get any sound to come out and her lips were barely moving. What was Shiki saying?_

_"How could you… Oh God, Rhyme, please, open your eyes!" Rhyme was confused. Weren't her eyes open? Why was Shiki crying so hard? Her conscious was slipping though, fading into nothing, but the very last sound she heard was the firing of a gun, shooting a second shot, and then silence. Shiki wasn't crying anymore. Was she…_

Slowly, dusty blue eyes fluttered open. Rhyme stared down at the rapidly fading light in between her hands, until it was gone and there was nothing but wooden floor. She was on her hands and knees, gasping at the floor, but once she realized where she was again she silenced her breath. Sitting up on her knees, she looked towards the boy calling her name. "Rhyme, what happened?" he asked when she moved.

Instead of replying right away, Rhyme forced herself onto her feet. She was completely numb from head to foot, her heart tingling madly in her chest. Gently she pressed her hand against her chest, against her aching heart, and she let out a little sad sound. Her knees wouldn't hold her up any longer, and she fell without so much as a cry. Neku managed to catch her, and the two sank to the wooden floor.

"Rhyme…" Neku called softly, holding the girl close. She gently touched his cheek and finally managed to say in a somber voice, "Whoever killed me… shot her, too. They shot her." Shocked is hardly befitting for the feeling that came to Neku, but somehow he found a way to keep it inside. Rhyme had seen a flashback of her death. Neku wasn't sure what to say. An apology certainly did not fit the criteria for a good response.

Her eyes closed for a moment and she pressed her hands over them. She took a deep breath, and just a second later she was getting up. There was no expression in her eyes or on her face. Neku felt a little cold inside.

Around them, the room was empty. The wood floor shone a little in the strange light that illuminated the entire room. The windows beyond were inky black, though, reminding them that they were still in the Game. Neku knew it wasn't the best time to worry about what Rhyme had remembered, so his gaze of the room got a steady attention. "If there's some kind of riddle in this room, I don't know what it is," he finally said.

"No doors," Rhyme quietly pointed out. Neku turned to be greeted by the sight of a blank wall. "Hmm," he mused, studying the wall. As he reached a hand out to touch the surface, the wall suddenly exploded around them. The Pin Walk On, Walk Off was just a thought away, Neku activating it while scooping Rhyme up and moving the two away from the flying debris.

Through the dust and rubble, a huge metal monstrosity walked. Made entirely out of every single step Rhyme and Neku had overcome, a giant and jagged almost wolf-ish creature was born. The twisted metal whined and screeched with each subtle movement of the beast, and the thing's maw was filled with jagged and pointed steel. The thing almost seemed to have eyes, the metal twisting around two dark holes, and Neku could feel it staring at them. Rhyme finally looked at what had been creating the monstrous noise while Neku put her down and stood between her and the beast.

"Oh God," Rhyme said, "how in the hell do we fight that?" The wolf towered over them, the room of Pork City somehow contorting itself and growing to fit the mass of twisted steel. Sitting on its haunches with a whine of grating metal, the wolf eyed the two Players down. Then, it did something that utterly shocked Neku and Rhyme alike.

With a somehow controlled whine of moving steel, the wolf formed words and said, "To be able to move forward in your current mission, listen very carefully now. A jump away and the prophecy of darkness was born. A promise of safety was given a skip away, but faithlessness followed in an ignorant hop. Fear and woe are just one step away, but find the Light at the door. If that is so, then where does the door lead?" The wolf thing tilted its head when it asked its question. Neku stared at it blankly, at a loss as to how to respond.

"Take as long as you want to answer. Get it wrong, and the Light will fade to leave you alone in the dark, where monsters dwell," the wolf said while digging sharp steel claws into the floor, splintering it with ease. Rhyme looked up at Neku with expecting eyes, waiting for him to brilliantly come up with the answer.

He had no fucking clue.

_Think, Neku! You've gotta know!_ Rhyme thought silently, her blue gaze turning to watch the steel wolf. Standing on all fours, it shifted its weight around slowly, making a constant low wail of grating metal. It was hard to think with that endless sound.

Something about what the wolf had said seemed familiar to Neku, in a way that almost made him think of Mr. Hanekoma. The two had to be related somehow, and since they were going to fight Mr. Hanekoma, it only made sense that any riddle involved would be linked to him. What was it? Perhaps something Mr. Hanekoma had said or shown them. One step away…

Suddenly, Neku had his answer. "The door," he started, causing the wolf's metal ears to perk up, "leads to Eden." Rhyme gave him a rather confused look, but the wolf sat down with a nod of its head.

"And so, to Eden you will go," the wolf said, its words billowing out into a howl of moving steel. The form of the wolf vanished as all of the twisted steel crashed into the floor, leaving behind the ruined remains of the stairs they had climbed. Standing just beyond the pile of scrap metal was a solitary red wooden door. It rested inside of its doorframe, but the doorframe wasn't attached to anything, making the door look like it opened up into nothing.

The two Players walked around the metal and to the door, Neku reaching his hand out to it. Once the handle touched his skin, it emanated a pleasant warmth. Neku turned the handle and gave that door a push, opening it to reveal a rather puzzling sight.

Stepping through the door, the two Players now walked through a misty, beautiful jungle. Feral flora of all shades of vibrant colors sprouted in between the towering trees that grew into a natural green canopy. Here and there patches of golden light from an unseen sun beyond the leaves shone through, decorating the jungle floor with patterns of shadow and light.

The scent – oh, it was heavenly, a perfect blend of wild flowers and exotic breezes. "This is so strange…" Neku mumbled, stopping by a particular tree that shone with a faint silver aura. He squinted up the tall smooth trunk to see the lowest hanging branches heavy with a mysterious silver peach shaped fruit, far beyond his reach in the canopy.

"Neku, look out!" Rhyme screamed from behind him. He vanished with the help of his Pin and appeared a few feet away. Right where he had been standing, an arrow was still quivering from where it stuck fast to the silver glowing tree. "What…" Neku started as he turned around, but his breath died on his lips at what he saw.

A beautiful silver blade lightly pressed against Rhyme's throat, the girl frozen to keep from slicing herself against the pristine sharp edge. She stared at Neku with wide blue eyes, her fear obvious. Standing behind her and holding the stunning sword was what Neku figured to be Mr. Hanekoma's Highground form.

At about six foot two towered a panther that walked like a human. His fur was darkest black that glimmered faintly in the golden light, and from behind him extended a striking pair of black angelic wings. Physically he was beautiful, his well toned shape obvious from the highlights and shades of his sparkling fur, and his clothes were of an Egyptian god. Resting against his bare chest lay bands of gold and glittering green the same vibrant shade as his eyes. Around his waist he had tied a simple white hemmed in green clothe, and from a belt hung the scabbard for his blade, his longbow and quiver tossed carefully aside.

Those brilliant green eyes met Neku's gaze, a long, thick, and gorgeous tail swaying from side to side slowly. He spoke to the boy, and said, "Haha, you two better keep your guard up! You're playin' in my field now, and I don't grant second chances." With another rumbling laugh he released Rhyme, then gave his powerful black wings a flap and jumped into the air, spiraling up around the trunk of the silver glowing tree.

The young girl stumbled and fell to her knees, but her blue gaze was focused upwards and she was holding a Pin, her dark aura fluctuating with raw power. This time she had pulled out Black Jupiter, and from her hand erupted screaming black lightning. The eerie electricity quickly snaked itself up the glowing trunk right behind the panther's long tail and catching up to it. Rhyme was about to grin at the hit, but her expression hardened when the black electric power diverted to a shining band wrapped around his tail and fizzled out to nothing.

Cursing under her breath, she searched for another Pin while Neku drew out his crimson blade, his eyes on the flying panther. The mighty being swooped down and landed behind Neku with sword swinging, but the boy had vanished. He reappeared right behind the panther with his attack already in motion, but his blade came to a sparking crash against silver. Struggling against the panther in a test of strength with their blades crossed, Neku stared him down eye to eye, growling.

The panther gave him a toothy grin, then suddenly stopped bracing against Neku's force with a step to the side. This quick movement made Neku stumble just one step, but it was enough for silver to slice him open. Blood quickly flooded the cut in his left side and instinctively he pressed his hand against it. Lucky. It wasn't deep.

Balls of roaring dark energy surged through the air from Rhyme's Black Venus Pin, in the direction of the panther. He easily dodged this attack by becoming airborne with a powerful leap. From above he called, "Fierce courage, when joined by sinister wisdom and merciless power, shall surely break the gods' spell over all!" He was grinning with the rush, like it was all some kind of fun game to him.

He came down again with blade ready, Neku only managing to block it in time. The impact sent him flying back, but he merely vanished and regained control of his momentum. Using it, he found a way to overcome his human limitations by leaping high – to the point where he could have easily picked that silver fruit if he desired – and headed for the panther.

Busy with dodging more bullets of darkness, the panther didn't realize what Neku had done, giving the Player the element of surprise. Neku mimicked his own injury and merely grazed a light cut in the panther's side. When the panther turned to strike at Neku in surprise, the boy had already vanished into thin air. He expended the Pin getting himself safely back on ground, so he would have to wait for the reboot.

"Ah, getting strategic now, eh? Brilliant!" the panther called from above, his silver blade dancing between his paws. Neku braced himself as the panther came charging down at full speed, sword ready. At the last moment, black wings gave a powerful flap and the force of impact was eased. Sparks flew from the blades, but before it could become another test of strength, Neku threw his weight into it from an angle and pushed the silver sword aside.

He went for the opening he had just made, but the panther quickly compensated by swinging his great tail, the metal band wrapped around it deflecting the blade. Unbalanced from the shift in direction, Neku vanished from sight as a cleaving blow sliced the air he had just occupied an instant before.

Rich green eyes scanned around for Neku, but the panther had to move away as Rhyme came running towards him with black fire blazing from her hands. "Stop flying and hold still, damnit!" Rhyme said as she switched from Black Mars back to Black Venus, which had just rebooted.

The panther flicked his tail playfully as he waited for the dark aura shots, then he cut each one in half with his sword, the silver slicing through the black as if it were a physical body and not raw energy. While the mystic being was distracted with that, Neku struck with a fast, precise combo, and it landed.

With his crimson blade in one hand and the lightning Pin in his other, Neku swung the sword directly at the waving tail, hitting the ring at just the right angle to send it flying off. Not missing a step, he aimed and fired blue lightning towards the black cat. This time, the lightning had an effect.

Striking the panther mid-back, the blue electricity left a star shaped burn mark from impact. He roared in pain as high voltage raced through his entire body, making every nerve ending feel like fire. Once it subsided, he slumped a little and stumbled, but surprisingly he stayed on his feet. Rhyme had seen what Neku had done, so she tried using Black Jupiter again, but before she could launch her attack the panther was zooming up into the air.

The expression on the panther's face was hard, all playfulness gone. Neku knew he was going to be in for the fight of his life now. While the black cat took a moment to clear his head, Neku used a combination of his time bomb Pin, the lightning Pin, and the teleportation Pin, creating a controlled explosion that he used to propel himself up and into the air, straight for the hovering panther. His crimson blade was bared, and he struck at the cat as he appeared in the air in front of him.

The panther gave a fierce growl and roughly shoved Neku's blade out of the boy's hand. The Pin fell from Neku's grip, the red sword disappearing as it dropped, but he was already raising his other hand with a back up plan. With a flex of thought, blue fire erupted from his left hand and struck the panther's arm as he turned to shield his face from the blow. Neku tisked and vanished from sight again with another controlled blast of a bomb, sending him up higher.

Roaring with pain and battle lust, the panther gave his mighty black wings a flap, dilated green eyes completely focused on finding Neku. From below, Rhyme gritted her teeth and narrowed her eyes in concentration, taking careful aim with Black Jupiter. A blink of an eye later and black lightning shot forth, aimed for the panther who had seemed to let his guard down. The lightning flew almost too fast to see, but somehow without even turning, the panther's blade caught the electricity and absorbed it without so much as a little zap to the wielder.

Rhyme swore loudly, looking around her for something else to use rather than her Pins, because they were _not_ working here. Neku meanwhile appeared for an instant, balanced perfectly on a faintly glowing branch, but he disappeared as the dark cat came roaring up after him. Silver flashed and sliced a branch on the mystic, fruit bearing tree, and the panther screamed in pure rage. Neku was headed back for the ground to retrieve his crimson blade.

Appearing next to the girl and panting fiercely, Neku gasped, "Ha-have you seen my Pin?" She pointed without words in the direction she had seen the small glinting object, but her eyes were cast in a different direction. From above, the panther gave a furious roar and fell into a spiraling dive-bomb to reach the ground as quick as physically possible. While Rhyme darted off between some trees and beyond sight, Neku was left to scramble for his sword Pin before that sharp silver edge found him. Where was Rhyme going?

Neku didn't have much time to think about it. As soon as he scooped his Pin up from the soft dew covered grass, he barely had the time to activate it to block the panther's slashing attack. The point of the silver sword had managed to graze Neku's cheek, but thankfully it had not done more. A small trail of blood oozed down the boy's face, and the panther grinned.

His expression fell, however, and his right wing gave a violent twitch. Neku chanced a glance, and he saw the sharp tip of an arrow, glowing with raw dark energy. The panther roared in pain and finally turned his attention away from Neku, away from the boy and towards the girl. He growled, snarling and baring his sharp white teeth at Rhyme. The girl held another arrow already notched in the bow, string pulled taunt and waiting for the release. Her dark aura fluctuated and attached itself to the arrow, and once it burned on it like black fire, Rhyme let it fly.

Slicing the darkly poisonous arrow right in half with a brilliant ring of silver, the panther surged forward with blade held high in one hand and sharp gleaming claws exposed on the other, both aimed for Rhyme's throat in what could be a precise and deadly two swipe combo. The girl dropped the bow and stood at the ready, her hands held down by her sides and glowing with dark energy, her fingers curling and uncurling.

Just as the panther reached her, his sword curving down in a graceful arc meant to glide right through her jugular, she brought both of her hands swinging upwards, a different Pin in each hand. The two Psyches acted instantaneously, and from her palms flew electrified black water orbs. They burst upon contact, coating the black cat in sticky water that shocked him harder than Neku's initial blue lightning, the black water acting as a conductor to intensify the charge all over his body.

She dropped her hands, watching as the panther fell on his knees, sword tumbling away from his slack and twitching fingers to lay harmlessly on the vibrant green grass. Taking a step back, she moved just as the cat slumped forward, paralyzed. Black lightning still licked across his soaked fur, making his body convulse slightly as the power expended itself in a sort of echo effect through his body, hitting him again and again with decreasing intensity.

By the time he could move again, he felt the tip of a sharp sword pressing very lightly against the nape of his neck. For a moment there was silence, a light warm breeze stirring the leaves high above their heads and making the patterns of light and shadow dance around the Players who stood over the Fallen Angel. Then, the black panther gave a deep and rumbling chuckle.

"Good job, Rhyme and boss. You did it," he grunted in a tone that told the Players that the fight was indeed over. Neku let the red sword fade and stepped away, giving the panther room to roll over and catch his breath. The girl, however, dropped to sit on the ground with her back to a tree. She promptly crossed her arms and buried her face, showing that she had no interest whatsoever for whatever Mr. Hanekoma wanted to say.

Neku was all ears.

After several long minutes, the panther was finally able to sit up. First, he gripped the arrow that still protruded from his black feathered wing and ripped it free with a pained growl, tossing it aside. Then, he began to lick the long burn along his left arm, and as he licked it, a cool green light encompassed his entire body from that point of contact. When the light faded, the wounds were somewhat healed, but the panther would always bear a white star shaped scar cutting through his velvet black fur on his back as well as a spiraling flame mark curling around his arm.

Flexing his newly healed arm and looking at the gleaming white marks, he nodded with his approval. "Very good… very good." His green gaze lifted to meet Neku eye to eye, and the panther said, "I can now tell you the purpose of this Game, of why you two are here in the HG." He got to his feet, his long thick tail swaying as he watched the two Players. As he took in a breath to finally explain, Rhyme looked up at him with such emotion in her blue eyes that he held his tongue in favor of what she wanted to say.

"Can you at least tell me who shot me?" she asked, suddenly standing and approaching the tall black cat. "I want to know, so I can get revenge on the fucker. Whoever killed me shot someone very close to me… They don't deserve to live." Rhyme fell quiet, but her clutched fists were trembling violently with her suppressed rage and sorrow.

The panther's eyes studied the girl standing before him now, seriously taking her in and gaze penetrating to her very soul, from where her now black aura originated. After a long and silent revision, the cat merely shook his head and said, "No… that bit of information is not for me to give. I'm sorry, but I can't answer that. However, I can tell you why you're here now…"

Rhyme bit back a sour and crude remark, turning away. She didn't want to listen, but deep down she was desperate to know what stupid reason could be worth more than her life, and her shaky but blossoming affection for Shiki, for the older girl that had to die for Rhyme's sake. What idiotic, pathetic logic could be worth all of that suffering? She knew there couldn't be anything, but she _still wanted to know why. _At least they were being blessed with that much.

Turning back to look at Neku, the panther said, "Currently, you two are participating in a Game being held on the HG, by a certain circle of Higher Beings. This particular Game is very special, and _very important,_ for several reasons: one reason is that a Game of this magnitude has not taken place since the dawn of this reality; another reason is the end result of this Game will determine the very future and destiny for several planes of existance at once. You two are both very important people, and very powerful. It was no accident that you two were brought here, to the HG.

"In the previous Game, Neku had proved himself strong in the face of overwhelming odds, and exceeded the expectations of him as a pawn for a bigger plan, rising up and in the end turning the outcome that was supposed to be beyond his control.

"Even though you lived through three weeks of hell that no one should ever be forced to suffer, Neku, you _still_ managed to find heart, and discovered the real key that none of us could see, that we didn't realize we had given to you from the _very start_. You single handedly changed the entire outcome across three planes, when you were but a mere speck on the entire picture who's course had already been predetermined. That is why you are here, in this Game.

"Rhyme…" He paused until the girl would finally look at him, and he gave her a small smile. "Your pure heart and compassion brought you here. In the first Game, you fell into a long period of darkness due to being yet another pawn in someone else's grand plan, the trigger to ignite the proxy Neku, and yet you did it willingly and without regrets. In the process, you lost something most precious to you and never recovered it, but from the very start it was destined that you would lose. You had no choice; it just had to be that way.

"Now, you've been given a second chance at what you had lost, and an opportunity to gain so much more in return for your first unrealized sacrifice. That is why you are here, in this Game." A sort of stillness followed these words, the tall cat peering down upon the two humans standing before him in meditative silence. Not a breath of a word was uttered for several long, painfully tense moments, and finally Mr. Hanekoma went on to explain the rest of what he was allowed to tell them.

"As to what this Game is about exactly… Win this Game, and you will become the most powerful being across three planes of existence. At the very beginning of this reality's cycle, a similar Game had taken place; during which it had already been decided that by the twilight of this cycle, a second Game would be held to find the one to lead us through the long night ahead and to the end of this reality. Mind you, that is still millennia away, but twilight has already fallen on our time."

He became silent, and for the first time Neku realized that the light around them was starting to fade into the cooler shades of dusk. The panther's words were very confusing, but the two Players would wait for him to go on, holding their questions. "Before I tell you what exactly it is you struggle for, I want to tell you about the first Game held here, on the Highground.

"At the dawn of our timeline, four Players participated in a Game where the one who proved to be the worthiest was given a very important and heavy responsibility. You already know three of those Players, the three of us who did not win that Game."

These words were followed by a quick moment of silence, but Rhyme interjected, "Wait, you've been around since… since the beginning of time?" The panther gave a nod, flicking his tail as he went on before the girl could ask more.

"Yes, me as well as Joshua, Minamimoto, and the winner of that first Game. Of course, since that time, a few of us have fallen a little from grace, but we do what we have to…" He flexed his now black feathered wings to emphasize what he meant. Neku was a little surprised to hear that Mr. Hanekoma, Joshua, _and_ Minamimoto had lost that first Game. It made him wonder what kind of powerful being had managed to beat them all…

A thought hit him, and he blurted out, "There can only be one winner, right? Just like the Reaper's Game?" Silence followed this statement, and Rhyme looked at Neku, fearing the implications. Green eyes softened with sympathy, the black cat giving his answer without having to voice it. He went on.

"The Game lasted for seven days, just as the Reaper's Game does, which purposefully mimics that first Game. Through those seven days, we had to survive hell and high water, learning to trust one another as well as finding inner enlightenment just to make it day by day. By the end of that week, we were all tired, not certain if any of us could go on but knowing that we had no other choice.

"Right now, you two are participating in the second most important Game to ever take place in our time. You two are playing for the highest position in existence; in several existences, actually. The winner becomes the big boss of… well, of everything, and tomorrow is the final day. Congratulations, you two are nearly there, but… tomorrow will be the hardest day of your whole life. Tomorrow, you will finally meet the current Game Master of this timeline."

Rhyme sat down hard on the jungle floor. The Game Master of their entire subsistence? The position almost sounded like something akin to being God… Suddenly, the girl started to chuckle. The sound grew into a loud, uproarious laugh, and she said, "Oh, so we _are_ in heaven, and tomorrow we get to meet God! 'Hello, God, thanks for killing me not just once, but twice! I love playing these Games, they're so much _fun! _I hope I win, so I can make someone else just as miserable as me!' Man, and here I thought that God would always be beyond me." Her words were bitter and her expression fierce, but her anger quickly melted away as the exhaustion from the situation hit her.

She averted her eyes, holding her silence; however, her distress was still apparent. Something else Mr. Hanekoma had said tickled at the back of Rhyme's mind, but she ignored it. The one thing that screamed through her head was Shiki. No one had mentioned Shiki, or the reason for why she needed to be shot too, but Rhyme was starting to think that it had something to do with her entry fee. Suddenly her gaze turned on Neku, her mind pondering the weight of that circumstance. If what Mr. Hanekoma said was true, and Rhyme was pretty damn sure he wasn't lying, then one of the two Players had to lose. With Shiki on the line, Rhyme knew it would not be her. She couldn't let the older girl suffer for the mess Rhyme had been pulled into.

The cat and the boy said nothing to Rhyme's outburst, but they both felt a stab of pain for the young and kindhearted girl who certainly did not deserve the place she was in. With a twitch of his long black tail, Mr. Hanekoma said, "Well, for now you two rest here, in this garden. Tomorrow comes soon enough." He lashed out with a quick jab that struck the glowing silver tree and held out both paws. Two beautiful, perfectly ripe silver fruit fell and landed, one fruit per paw, and he presented the mysterious fruit to the two Players. Without a word Rhyme and Neku took the offering, and a blink of an eye later they were alone, a warm breeze stirring the grass where the Fallen Angel had stood a moment before.

Rhyme studied the soft silver peach in her hand, letting everything run through her mind slowly. Long after they had finished eating the energy filling fruit, Rhyme looked up at Neku with an expression that clearly stated she wanted to say something. After a few quiet moments, she asked, "If tomorrow is the final day, then this Game is only six days long… Doesn't that seem a little strange to you?"

Neku quickly turned away to hide his expression, mumbling an agreement, "Y-yeah, that is kinda weird…"

- End Day 5…


	7. Seventh Tag Color: Grey

The World Ends With You

CAT's Mural

Seventh Tag Color: Grey

Rhyme's dusty blue eyes flew open. Above her was the sight of the incredibly tall tree canopy, and just beyond, a few patches of twilight touched sky. Sitting up, she rubbed an eye while thinking to herself. Mentally she tallied up the number of days she had been with Neku, trapped in their new hell, but every single time she came up with the same impossible number, making their final day only day six. If it was supposed to be just like the Reaper's Games, then it should be day seven. Was she missing something somewhere?

Looking around, she found Neku already awake. He was leaning against a tree, watching her quietly. The look in his eyes seemed heavy somehow. "Hey, Neku… How many days have we been in this Game? I keep going over it, and every time I end up with this being day six…" Rhyme asked. As soon as the question was uttered, Neku averted his gaze. His behavior spoke to Rhyme more than his words.

"I… I don't really know, honestly. Does it matter? I mean, we should be more concerned with what's ahead of us today…" Even though Rhyme knew it was a purposeful diversion, Neku still had a very good point. What exactly awaited them?

Getting to her feet, Rhyme idly brushed her dirty pants, not even thinking about the subconscious motion and how pointless it was. What exactly was going to happen when they met the Game Master, she wondered. Her eyes narrowed a little, and she imagined using a few choice Pins of hers to forever silence whatever it was that 'God' wanted to say to them. It would never be worth it to her in the end, and she would feel better taking her justified rage out on the big boss of it all when they finally battled the Game Master.

Before she could let her vivid fantasy go on much longer, she was startled away from her thoughts when her eyes caught the sight of shining white against black velvet fur. "Mr. Hanekoma!" Neku said with some surprise. The sight of the tall, scarred panther was the last thing they expected to see so early in the day. He gave a wave and a small flick of his long tail, but a somber, grim expression soon followed.

Standing before the two, the panther's green eyes carefully studied them both, in turn as well as a team. After a few, intense moments, he finally spoke, and asked, "Are you two ready? I'm going to personally escort you to the location for the final battle." Neku quickly nodded, but Rhyme said and did nothing. Mr. Hanekoma waited patiently, watching Rhyme until she finally let out an annoyed breath and waved her hand for him to go on. With a small nod, he clapped his paws together, enveloping the group in lush emerald light.

The brightness quickly became overbearing, Rhyme and Neku alike closing and shielding their eyes away from the force. When the last of that weird tingling sensation left Rhyme's stomach and toes, she opened her eyes to behold a rather puzzling sight. Were they still in the HG?

At first glance, it looked as if they had landed in the sunny, complete Shibuya right by CAT's mural. The buildings were intact, and the paint of the graffiti in near prime condition, just as Neku and Rhyme remembered it. However, the entire scene flickered out for a moment, like a dying monitor. Underneath, the buildings and sky retained their geometrical shape, but everything was made of the same strange solid black material with brightly glowing purple numbers and letters.

Rhyme had a bizarre thought of a rather popular movie trilogy from America, recalling the phrase, 'the One'. She kept this image to herself as around everything brightened back into the familiar Shibuya. "Mr. Hanekoma, what.." Neku started to ask, but he was promptly silenced by a meaningful glance of the panther's green eyes.

"She'll be here soon," he said, flicking his tail. The three waited in silence for almost ten minutes before Mr. Hanekoma crossed his arms and let out an irritated growl. "Figures, something important. She's _always_ late!" he grumbled, tapping a black paw against the concrete and making a bit of it flash out like a ripple. Neku and Rhyme held their silence, not willing to look at each other. However, they both turned their gaze when something started to materialize before them.

As they watched, billions of tiny lines of purple code flickered into perspective, clustering together as soon as they appeared. Rapidly they formed into a humanistic shape, and with a burst of purple light, there she stood. Somehow, Rhyme didn't feel surprised at her normal, everyday appearance, but there was a very strange sensation of familiarity she would never be able to explain.

The girl appeared to be hardly older than Neku with soft chocolate eyes and long, brilliant brunette curls that shone red under the sun's touch. She wore slender glasses, a simple hoodie with a few symbolic patches, and a pair of snug fitting dark denim jeans. From the corner of her mouth hung a smoldering hand-rolled jay, which emanated a familiar relaxing scent that stunned Rhyme and Neku alike. And from her back extended a pair of beautiful wings; the feathers raven black and transcending into that same beautiful glowing purple near the tips of the wings.

She seemed… oddly majestic. Majestic, and sad.

"Well, Neku and Rhyme," Mr. Hanekoma started as he flicked his tail, "I'd like for you to meet Rae, the current Game Master."

The two nodded at her, still a little speechless. "Hey, what's up?" she replied, her voice laid back. Although she was tranquil, there was no doubt that she held a lot of staggering power within, dormant for the time being. It made Rhyme feel a little weak in the knees. From the way Neku nervously shifted a few Pins in his hands, Rhyme could tell that he was feeling the tension as well. How were they supposed to defeat this Game Master? Up until now, Rhyme had wanted to destroy whoever 'God' was, but now she thought otherwise in face of the real thing.

For a long time, she studied them from behind her glasses, her brown eyes full of intelligence, lips exhaling a puff of smoke every once in a while. It seemed she was measuring their power and potential; Rhyme could feel something gently tickling the edges of her aura and knew that it was from this girl. After a silence that felt like an eternity, she shook her head and said, "You two won't actually be battling with me, so don't worry about that. Right now, my power is way too vast for even both of you to handle, and it just wouldn't be a fair match." The bit of silence that passed after this was heavy.

Neku quickly broke it, "So… who exactly are we fighting today for the final battle?" Rhyme knew the answer the moment she saw Rae's eyes soften in sympathy, because she had won a similar battle millennia ago. It seemed that Neku also understood without words, and gave Rhyme a nervous glance without meeting her gaze.

Before anything else could be said or done, Rhyme _had _to know who killed her. Who had shot Shi… "Can you tell me who shot me? I think that, in light of everything, I at least deserve that much." Rae seemed to be considering whether or not she should answer Rhyme, but she didn't get the chance. The answer came from a very surprising source when the person standing beside her spoke.

"Rhyme, I'm sorry," Neku began. Her blue eyes widened, her gaze fixated on the boy she had been battling with to try to ensure their survival in this Hell. "This really is day seven. On day one, there was only one objective and it was given to me: enter the Game or be erased. I… I had no choice, we both would have been wiped from existence, so I… shot us both."

Her mind raced. "You didn't hurt her?" Rhyme needed to know. Neku managed to give her a small and sincere smile, the only thing in the past week that managed to sooth some of the aching pain in her heart.

"No, I didn't. I didn't hurt Shiki." The relief that flooded through Rhyme's body made her feel weak and she sank to the flickering concrete ground. Tears openly escaped her eyes, and she was softly gasping for air. Shiki wasn't dead, she was still alive! Rhyme could see her again…

Her wet blue eyes rose to meet Neku's own gaze, and the boy knew in that instant that their partnership was officially over. The girl was filled with determination; determination to win and see Shiki again. Slowly Rhyme rose, never taking her eyes off of Neku. Mr. Hanekoma and Rae both spread their wings and flew to the roof of a nearby building, sensing that the final battle was about to begin.

"You know it's nothing personal, right Neku?" Rhyme said as she inched a hand towards her black planet Pins.

Neku nodded while similarly reaching for his crimson sword Psyche, "Same to you, Rhyme. You will always be my friend."

Rhyme smiled in agreement, and let out a fierce battle cry as she ripped free a Pin and let loose its dark power. Black lightning lunged for Neku's heart but missed the target when he vanished. Instantly she initiated Black Saturn, her dark aura strengthening itself and stretching out into a barrier. She smiled when she felt a thump against her aura, Neku unable to teleport close enough to Rhyme and effectively running into her shield.

While the barrier held its position, she quickly went to work with a couple of her other Pins, trying to come up with something that she could use against Neku's sword. An idea came to mind. Calling on Black Uranus, she felt the ground beneath her feet rumble as it flickered violently from the vibrations; however she didn't concentrate as much power as she had when fighting Joshua. Stomping the ground with her right foot, a long and perfectly shaped piece of black ice shot out of the ground before her, where she snatched it out of the air with an almost experienced ease.

Now she held her own sword, made of unbreakable black ice that would never melt if she didn't want it to. It didn't even feel cold against her skin like she would have thought, although it was so cold there was a faint mist hugging close to it that trailed after her sword as she moved it. Around her the protective shield was starting to fade, but before it was gone she imbued her ice sword with a touch of Black Mars. Along the length of the blade side of the sword, black fire started to burn, feeding off of that strange mist the ice emanated.

"Alright, Neku! Let's do this, to the finish!" Rhyme screamed as her shield fell around her, exposing her to Neku's attacks. However, her aura sensed which direction he would come from, and black ice was easily able to deflect crimson light from cutting into her side. The two shared a smile while crossing blades.

"I'm surprised at how easily you pick up swordplay," Neku said.

"You'd be surprised how damn easily I pick up a lot of things," Rhyme replied, shifting her weight to offset his balance and giving herself a small opening. It was a tactic she had seen Neku use on Hanekoma, and it worked just as well for her. She left a blazing but light cut on Neku's arm, the boy disappearing to try to extinguish the black fire. While he was gone, Rhyme quickly shuffled through her Pins with her free hand, picking one out and holding it ready at her side.

A moment later and Neku appeared right in front of her, holding up his sword and bull-rushing her with a roar. She held up her own blade in one hand, using some of her aura to add support like an extra arm, and deflected his cleaving blow. While they struggled, she brought up her other hand right against his stomach, and blasted him point blank with a shot of dark energy. The force sent him flying away into a nearby wall, the entire building's image flickering and going out after impact to reveal that odd code. Not wasting any time, she aimed and fired two more black shots of power after him, but they only demolished the already damaged building. He had vanished.

Expelling Walk On, Walk Off behind another building out of Rhyme's sight, Neku took a moment to catch his breath and inspect his aching stomach while waiting for the reboot. She wasn't messing around at all, aiming to finish the fight. He had to be more careful, study her movements more, because that sneak attack had scared him. The building he leaned against shook as Rhyme hit it with lighting; she knew where he was hiding. Just in time, his Pin rebooted, and he vanished as the building disintegrated under the force of another black lightning bolt.

When Neku came out from behind the building, he shot his own lightning at Rhyme, the girl having to dive aside to dodge the deadly blast. She rolled and got back up on her feet a moment later, grimacing. Neku was gone again, but she felt a small pressure from behind her. Flipping around, she deflected a flash of red, and had to turn around again as Neku teleported right after the swing to deliver another. Her aura warned her of his movements, so as he vanished and reappeared around her in an intricate circle, she turned and met his blade stroke for stroke.

After several long moments, Rhyme became tired of this game and predicted the next spot Neku would appear. When she swung her blazing ice sword, it connected with flesh and she heard Neku gasp in pain. He teleported away from her, but that's when she realized the trap she had fallen into. All around her lay slowly growing balls of explosive energy, Neku planting them one by one as he teleported around her. She knew there wouldn't be enough time to run, so she threw up her shield as the first bomb exploded, igniting the rest. The explosions rolled and collided with one another in a perfect sphere around her, and her dusty blue eyes watched it all with a little wonderment. As they expended their immense energy against her black shield, it absorbed some and gave her a boost of power.

As the bombs exploded and vanished, Neku cursed to himself when he realized that she had used her shield. His left hand pressed against a gash in his side, a bit of blood oozing between his fingertips. It wasn't too deep, but it did hurt a lot, burned from the black fire that came with every cut of Rhyme's punishing sword. How was it he hadn't laid a single blow on her yet? He had to think of something else.

Rhyme spun her sword in her hand, letting Neku gather his thoughts while she mused some things over herself. What exactly was it going to take to defeat Neku? Her former partner was having similar thoughts himself about her, wondering how she could be beaten in battle. Her powers were not to be underestimated. Fortunately, neither were his. He had his own fire, too.

From behind Rhyme, a small blue flame formed and quickly grew. She turned in surprise as a wall of wailing blue fire started to circle around her. Before it could shut her in completely, she dashed out through a guided opening – and was hit full force by a blast of blue lighting from Neku. She didn't even make a groan as she slumped to the ground, body convulsing slightly, but she knew that he was already on his way to deliver the final blow. She had to do something!

Somehow she willed her jelly-like body into motion, rolling over onto her back and dodging red crimson as it sank into the flickering ground where she had just been. Their eyes met in a brief moment of surprise, and then Neku freed his sword as Rhyme got to her feet. They faced each other off, slowly circling one another as Rhyme said, "So, Neku, how's this gonna end, yo? Who's gonna fall to who?" As she spoke, she ran her finger along the long edge of her black sword, feet planting into stance. Neku came to a stop as well, studying Rhyme.

"I don't know yet, Rhyme. I'll be sure to tell you once the fight's over, though," he replied, coming in for an attack. Their blades clashed together again and again, both fighters watching the motions of the opponent and executing a beautiful, deadly dance of the sword. From above, Mr. Hanekoma and Rae watched the two in silence, the old friends flashing back to a similar showdown that had decided the first ultimate winner. In the end, it had come down to Rae versus Mr. Hanekoma, and they had done their own sword dance much like the two Players before them were now.

Using a little sidestep tactic, Neku finally gave Rhyme her first cut, across her thigh. Blood soaked her pants and she bit her lower lip against the pain. She thanked him by giving him a cut below his right eye, and he got her on the side. It wasn't long before both were sporting several slowly bleeding wounds; Neku's came with a few burns. They were panting for air, eyes never once looking away from the other with several feet of distance between them.

_This isn't just a brawl between friends_ Neku thought as he considered Rhyme's determined blue eyes. _This is far more serious. She won't stop until she can't move any more… which is pretty much true for me as well. There's just too much on the line here, for both of us…_

_Yeah. This is a fight to the death. _

He could tell from her expression and body language that she thought the exact same. So that was it, there was no holding back for anything. The black fire burning along Rhyme's sword grew as her eyes hardened. Neku readied himself, muscles tense and waiting. She took a step forward and swung, even though she was still beyond physical range. Some of the flames on her blade flicked off like drops of water, burning as they flew for Neku. He tried to deflect it, but some of it struck his body and immediately started to burn his clothes.

While furiously trying to put the dark fire out, he aimed a bolt of lightning at Rhyme and shot. She dodged it and shot some of her own, which landed. Neku groaned as he sank to his knees on the ground, sword Pin falling out of his twitching fingers. He watched as Rhyme came closer, sword held high above her head, and waited. Once she was near him, that sword came down in a curving arc aimed for his throat, but dark ice only sliced air. He had vanished at the last instant, teleporting behind Rhyme with a growing bomb already in hand. As she turned her head to look over her shoulder at him, she saw bright light, the bomb exploding between them and sending them both flying in opposite directions. Neku landed on the ground and skidded, but Rhyme hit CAT's mural with staggering brutality, the stone wall shifting a little from the impact.

Her body slumped down to the ground, a trail of blood streaking the famous painted cat as she went. Neku struggled to his feet, ignoring his painful and now useless left hand. Limping over to where Rhyme's broken body lay, he kicked away her ice sword and stood over her. She lay motionless. He wasn't sure if she were still alive or not, but the fight was over. He had won.

The victory was an empty one.

Looking up, he saw the two celestial beings approach him. Instead of waiting for one of them to start speaking, Neku turned away, sobbing a little. A hand gently came to rest on his shoulder, and he turned to meet a pair of warm chocolate eyes full of understanding. Gently he was guided to her soft chest, and Neku cried for all he was worth while in the embrace of the former Game Master, her fingers caressing his hair.

-End Day 7


	8. Another Day

The World Ends With You

CAT's Mural

Another Day

Neku sat on a tall building in the Shibuya of the RG, looking down at another roof of a nearby shorter building. It was a clear and bright day, the sun feeling pleasantly warm as it shone on the pristine white feathers of Neku's wings. He could clearly see the sight of his second-in-command, standing alone with her charcoal grey wings neatly folded and blue eyes fixated on a specific mortal life now below her.

Sighing, Neku shifted a bit, bringing up his knee to cross his arms on it and lean forward. Since winning the Game on the HG, he had been given the sole task and responsibility of becoming the guardian of his own home, as well as the realms directly above and below it. Of course he would have help from Mr. Hanekoma as well as the former Game Master, Rae, for a while longer, but his heart felt heavy for the friend he had to defeat in the process.

Rhyme watched the familiar streets of Shibuya, thinking about her former life. She had been given the option, of course, to continue living just as she had been before the new Game had taken place, but she had declined. She had lost her entry fee, after all. Instead she was given angelic powers and immortality, and now served for the better good of the realms.

Below, Shiki stood by the statue of the dog, waiting for Eri. In her hands, she held a bouquet of flowers. Once Eri arrived, the two were headed for CAT's mural. There, Shiki carefully lay the flowers by the image of the towering Ghost Cat.

"She was a good friend, you know. A really nice girl… Beat's devastated," Shiki said as she looked at Eri. "It's a shame, she was so young…" The brunette wiped away a few tears as the redhead Eri came up behind her, pulling her into a tight embrace and holding her close.

"I'm sorry, Shiki," Eri whispered into Shiki's ear, kissing it softly. In bitterness, Rhyme turned away, vanishing as she changed her frequency to a different realm.

Neku watched the two girls that Rhyme had followed, not turning when he sensed a familiar presence behind him. "Say, Mr. Hanekoma…" Neku said as the taller man approached, "what exactly was Rhyme's entry fee anyway?"

"Aah, boss, you wanna go askin' me something like that? You sure you really wanna know the truth?" Mr. Hanekoma replied as he lit up a menthol cigarette. Finally Neku looked at him, meeting him eye to eye with the answer clear on his face. "Alright, alright… Just remember that you asked." When Neku nodded again, Mr. Hanekoma took a heavy drag from his smoke, expelling it in a brilliant white cloud.

"Well, at the moment in time when Rhyme was sixteen, the thing that mattered most to her when her life ended was the love she shared with Shiki. When she lost, that love disappeared, and Shiki forgot completely about the two being anything else than friends; thus, you see that before you." He pointed with his cigarette at Eri and Shiki, the two kissing deeply now. Neku felt a heavy pressure in his stomach. "I know what you're thinking, Neku. It's not your fault, that's just the way these Games go."

"Yeah, and the Games suck," Neku said sourly. "The Games suck balls." Mr. Hanekoma nodded somberly as Neku took an offered smoke, the boy never tasting a cigarette before but suddenly craving one now.

"Now you know why the Game Master before you had that little joint. Welcome to being God, Neku." The two vanished from the roof as Shiki and Eri left the little alleyway side by side, CAT's mural standing quietly over the small bouquet of fresh flowers as a small breeze pushed their scent in a direction where no one would ever smell their simple beauty.

-End Post-Game Epilogue

CAT's Mural, based on The World Ends with You

Written by L.A. Moonfyre and completed October 8, 2008


End file.
